Harry
by pjjammjamm
Summary: Not your normal travel-through-time fic. All the questions you've ever wondered about the Marauders, answered through Harry's little trip through time. But is Harry able to change the past? Can Harry get back home? And does he even want to?
1. Chapter 1

**AN- I decided that if I were all of you, meaning the people that take the time to read this, I would be pretty angry right about now, and decided that I therefore had to put forward some time to work on this. I've been kind of sick, and I know that sounds like it's have been the perfect time to write, but I had writers block then. It's still there, but it's this or my third novel, and I'm getting nowhere on the novel, (Prongs, please don't kill me!) So instead I'm winging it at this. Please tell me how you like it. Also, the whole fic is in third person, but I like to switch POV's. If you have a problem with this…sorry, mate, tough luck. **

**Disclaimer- you know, one day, I'll be writing fanfics for my own story, and then I wont have to write one of these…**

Familiar Faces, Familiar Places

Watching the two specks above him that represented his best friends, Remus Lupin shook his head. School had only begun yesterday, and already they were at it. The pranks had been pulled for the day, and Quidditch, as always, came before homework.

"Oi, Moony, catch!" Jolted out of his thoughts, werewolf instinct reacted before he could and caught the red Quaffle for him.

Tossing it back at the thrower, Remus Lupin called, "Prongs, don't you think it's time we head in? It's almost dark, and we've still got a Transfiguration assignment, and that Potions essay, and Padfoot has an Arithmancy make-up test from the last time he faked sick to get out of homework."

James, snickering, landed with ease beside Remus and said, "Yeah, I guess you're right. I still can't believe he got more homework than he would've if he'd went to the class, but at least it gave us some free time." When the black-haired boy grinned crookedly, shouldering his broom, Remus said,

"I really don't even want to know what you did with that spare time. Tell Padfoot to pack it up."

Obeying James's orders, Sirius Black stuffed the Quaffle in the wooden box and handed it to Remus, who protested until James pointed out that he had nothing else to carry. It looked, to them, like this year would be exactly the same. Their last year of Hogwarts would be normal.

Until a boy with dark green eyes and a lightning bolt scar fell from mid-air. Because Harry Potter and normal rarely are allowed to be put in the same sentence.

Harry Potter, meanwhile, was not having nearly as nice of a time of things. His rescue mission to find his godfather had been simple, and private. He had simply walked into the veil, confident in the logic Hermione had put forward; the veil was the rip between the living and dead. But as Sirius had been living when he'd fallen in, he had to be living in the realm of the dead.

So how had he ended up at Hogwarts? Was this some sort of parallel universe? But why were there students here, out on the grounds this late? They hadn't been allowed out since Voldemort's attacks had become so much more frequent. Did Voldemort even exist in this world?

Seeing the last of them start to head inside, Harry decided quickly that he had better follow. Shouldering the bag that contained his most treasured possessions, (he hadn't known how long he would have to be wherever it was he had ended up) Harry Potter swept out of the shadows and into the twilight. Easily catching up to the group of boys in front of him, he poked one of the black-haired ones in the back of the neck.

Well, that had been a mistake.

The boy turned around to look at him, surprise written on his features. Before Harry could say a word, he asked, "Did you know that it's way past curfew? I mean, we've never minded, but I've never seen anyone else out this late."

Harry, too shocked to say anything, merely stared up at the man he'd seen in all his photographs, but never seen in person. James Potter was standing in front of him, staring at him expectantly. (I could leave you here, but that would be too short and on a cliffhanger, and I'm nicer than that…plus, it's too predictable. I'd like to think I'm not.)

"Well?" James asked, staring down at him.

:"Uh…" Harry was too flabbergast to say anything for a moment, until he began to collect himself after James said,

"I know I'm good looking, aren't I?" It was only said to tease Harry for staring, but it brought him back to his senses fully. Snape had been right; his father was a bigheaded, arrogant, annoying…

" Can you show me to the Headmaster's office? I need to be sorted, I'm a transfer student." Remus's senses were already on alert. Something was extremely off about this boy. But how had he known that Hogwarts students were sorted? Every school dealt with things such as Houses differently. He waited for an explanation, but when none came, and it didn't look like any were coming, he said,

"Sure, follow me," probably saving the new boy from a good amount of hexing and pranking on Sirius and James's behalves.

Now that he was past staring at the emerald eyes, he knew why he had felt weird about this new boy. Nearly everything about him was similar to James. His hair, his face…

But now that Remus looked even harder, he noticed big differences too. He was quite a bit paler than James and much skinnier. `That would change at Hogwarts' Remus thought. If the boy hadn't been getting enough to eat before, he'd see to it personally that he stuffed his face every meal. His eyes, as said before were green, and were nearly so bright that Remus had to fight the impulse to dim the lights in the corridor and see if they would glow. They were shaped quite a bit differently from James's and held no laughter or joy, or anything other than sadness, and reserve, and grief, and something Remus couldn't even understand. As though sensing that Remus was trying to understand him, studying him, the shade of green became darker and glazed, successfully hiding anything he was thinking about or feeling.

But the most notable difference was the way he walked. This boy walked as though he were carrying much more than a small bag of meager possessions on his back. He walked as though the weight of the world rested on his shoulders.

If only Remus Lupin knew.

As it was, Remus didn't know. He was leading Harry though the familiar passages of Hogwarts, stopping to explain himself to a few prefects and to simply say hi to the friendlier ones. Finally stopping in front of the gargoyle, he said, " Gummy Snakes," and walked onto the stairs, waiting for Harry to follow him.

As Remus was explaining to Dumbledore, Harry was looking around. Fawkes, the phoenix he had befriended in his own time, now came to him, landing on his shoulder gently. Dumbledore seemed surprised for a minute, until a look of understanding flashed across his features. Dismissing Remus, he waited until he knew the boy was out of earshot before he said, "So how did you happen to end up here?"

"Time-Travel." Harry replied simply, stroking Fawkes's head gently. "I'd tell you more, but I don't think it's a good idea. How'd you know?"

"A phoenix always trusts. You need only gain their trust once; it stays with them forever, no matter what the time. Speaking of, which time-period are you from?"

"1996."

"What year are you in?"

"What year are the Marauders in?" If Dumbledore thought for a moment that he would lose this one chance to get to know his parents, he was not only sadly mistaken, but a lot more off-his-rocker than anyone had ever thought. Not that this Dumbledore knew, Harry reasoned, that one of the Marauders was his parent.

Dumbledore chuckled, and said, "So I suppose you've already met them? They are quite the social bunch, I'm not surprised. They are in their seventh year."

It was a year above him, and to be honest, Harry couldn't have cared less. "Great. So am I. A Seventh year Gryffindor." Now, Harry thought, all he had to do was keep up with his classmates and hide his true identity. It should be easy.

Easy and Harry Potter shouldn't be put in the same sentence either.

AN-I'm leaving it there, for now. That's just the prequel. I know it's short, but bear with me. I needed to close it. I'm sick and need to get to bed.


	2. Chapter 2

"So tell us a bit about yourself." Remus said, after Harry had come back to the dorm room, claiming that he would be sharing it with them for the rest of the year. James and Sirius were sulking, Peter was annoyed, but because he had never really liked the sneaking out they did at night, Remus was quite content with the situation. It would give him more time to figure this boy out.

While he unpacked his things, the boy said, "I'm Harry Potter, seventeen, and in Gryffindor. What more is there to say?"

Undeterred by Harry's tone of voice, Remus said, "James's last name is Potter. Are you two related?"

At this point, James overcame his sulking to study their new dorm mate. "Yeah, I suppose we could be. My family's fairly big, and we do look a lot alike."

"If I didn't know any better Prongs, I'd say he were your twin. Get rid of the scar and give you green eyes, and you two could trick anyone!" Sirius said, with excitement. "Oh, the possibilities…"

Harry thought the idea sounded amusing, to be honest. He wasn't really up for pranking anyone back home, but then, he had never tried it. Now that he would be staying with the infamous Marauders of Hogwarts, in their last year, he realized he couldn't be the one to hold them down. "Well, it wouldn't be that difficult. I have some friends who…enjoy inventing things. They created candies that can change your hair, your face shape…"

"Your eyes!" Peter said catching on to what everyone else in the room hadn't thought needed to be said.

"Yeah, but what about the scar?" Remus said, frowning faintly. "Where did you get that anyways?" From what he knew about scars, it seemed highly unlikely that someone could get such a perfectly shaped one in a place such as the forehead. This one almost seemed like a curse scar, and it seemed like that was even more likely when Harry replied,

"I don't want to talk about that yet."

Yes, Harry Potter would make this year interesting.

Panicking, Harry tried to steer the conversation away from anything about himself. "So, you guys like pranks?"

"How'd you know?" Remus asked. _Stop being so perceptive, Professor. _Harry thought with amusement.

"It just seemed kind of obvious, from how excited you became over the candies." Remus seemed to accept this answer, and Sirius and James were positively beaming already.

"Love `em." Sirius replied promptly. For a moment, there was an awkward silence, as each of the boys tried to think of something else to say. Finally, Remus asked, "What's your favorite subject?"

"Trust Moony to ask something about school." James muttered, but Sirius and he were both smiling.

"Ah…Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Somehow, this made Remus suspicious. "Why?"

"I'm not a Death Eater, or anything like that, if that's what your thinking. I just have a talent for that particular subject, and a grudge against Dark Magic." Harry replied. Thinking fast, as to how he could try and shake Remus's suspicion about his scar, Harry added, "It killed my parents."

There was a shocked silence this time, until James asked, "Dark magic…killed your parents? Sorry, we shouldn't have…"

"It was a long time ago. I didn't really even know them, and you can't really miss someone you've never known." Harry replied just as easily, shrugging it off. "Better topics…"

"QUIDDITCH!" Sirius said loudly, bouncing from his position on the bed. Harry's mood quickly picked up as he realized that he would be able to play with his father.

"Love it! Were I came from, I was the youngest seeker in a century!" Both boys grinned at him, James saying,

"You'll have to try out!" After a moment of thought, he said under his breath, "You'd have to be good to be put on the team so young… I'll resort to begging if I have to! _Please_ try out! If we have to suffer with me as seeker again…"

"That bad?" Harry asked with mock sincerity, fighting a smile.

"Not at all! I was brilliant, if that's what you're suggesting!" Harry hid his snickering behind a cough at James's hurt pride, but James caught on quickly, and added, "Hey, really! I was awesome, wasn't I?"

"Sure he was." Remus said, smirking.

"Right…" Sirius said, as Peter said,

"I thought he was good." Honestly.

"I WAS _FINE_!" James insisted. "We didn't win a game last season because we were absolutely slaughtered by the other team's chasers. That's just my natural position, they need me there! But I'm captain, and I want to win the cup this time!"

"Relax, Prongs. We've got a chance this year." Sirius said amused at how enthusiastic James was taking his Quidditch.

"I'm going to try out for seeker this year too!" Peter added, feeling left out. "James was training me all of last year! I think I'm finally ready!"

And now Harry knew that this would be harder than he had thought. Every time his father's friend-who-would-turn-traitor spoke, Harry felt like strangling him. But as Remus was already watching him with too much interest, Harry didn't think that this would be a good way to become friends and throw Remus off of his scent.

Off his scent.... knowing that werewolves had canine senses, he had joked about it like only Snape would. Sometimes Harry marveled at his bad sense of irony. Deciding that this must be his Slytherin side, and wondering if Malfoy thought like that all the time, Harry threw himself onto his bed, the one next to Remus's and continued to talk with the Marauders late into the night.

"This feels weird." Remus stated after a pause. Harry smiled at how childish he sounded, until he realized that Remus was as much a kid here as he was. Of course Remus would sound like that.

"What feels weird?" Harry asked, wondering if Remus had already figured him out. But there was no way…was there?

"It feels like I'm meeting you again." _`You have no idea'_ Harry thought in reply, saying aloud,

"I know. I got so used to my old school and friends, and my old school is similar to this one-" `_It would be seeing as it's the same school'_, "So seeing it without my friends," _`and with my dead father and his dead best friend, not to mention an old professor who happens to be a werewolf and the traitor who ruined my life,'_ "Is a little strange."

`I need to control that sarcasm. It won't make me friends with anyone else.' Harry thought, as he and Remus talked about little things. Neither seemed to want to say what they were really thinking, and Harry responded to every question without really thinking, until he realized what direction the questions were going in.

Somehow, Remus had to know what Harry thought about werewolves. When his new roommate had said he'd slept lightly, Remus had joked around by saying that that was a good thing, because he would hear Sirius and James trying to pull one over him, but secretly, he was worried. There was no way they would be able to keep the secret from Harry for long.

"So what do you think about…giants?"

"They can be talked around. We'd get along fine, if wizards would make the effort."

"Trolls."

Harry winced, clearly lost in memory. "Ah, I have some bad past experiences with trolls…"

"You've met a troll and lived to tell about it?" Remus asked, impressed. Usually that took a large amount of magic.

"Yeah…In our first year, it was in our school in Halloween. Everyone else was in the dungeons searching for it, but I ended up being in the same room as it, which happened to be a girl's bathroom. It was a fully-grown mountain troll we just got really lucky. My friend hit it on the head with it's own club using the only charm we knew."

"The levitation one?" Remus asked, amused. "That's pure luck!"

"That's what our professor said when she found us. But we needed good luck, because bad luck had gotten us in the same room in the first place. Besides," Harry mock-pouted. "you're just jealous of my obvious talent."

Remus smiled, and said, "Well, we don't have to worry about trolls entering Hogwarts. It's the safest place in England."

"Believe me," Harry said, remembering that Hogwarts' safety had been the reason the troll had been let in, "I know."

"Uh…house elves?"

Harry smiled at the vision of Hermione and her SPEW badges. "My friend had a rather large opinion of them, but they're just other magical creatures who happen to like work and are put to good use, so long as they aren't mistreated." He frowned, knowing where Remus was going with this questioning. Wanting to get to the point without showing it, Harry asked, "What about you? What do you think about…werewolves?"

Remus visibly paled before saying lightly, "Uh, I don't know…I've never really heard anything other than awful stories…"

_Ah,_ Harry thought, smirking. _He wants to see if I'll agree or disagree. Smart_. _If Remus could only lie a little better, I bet even the Marauders would never have figured him out. _"Actually, I used to have a friend who was a werewolf, before I came here. We were really close, and he was so sad all the time. But he'd just lost his best friend of even longer, so that's understandable."

"Really?" Remus asked, trying to hide hope.

"Yeah. I think people just hear the bad, and refuse to see the good about something they don't understand. If I could transform like that, I'd welcome the change for a night. I think I'd like to be able to forget myself for a while, and I know a lot of other people who wouldn't mind either. That is why most people get drunk, isn't it?"

Remus stared at Harry for a bit, measuring his trust. But if Harry had been expecting Remus to tell his secret so early, he was disappointed, because Remus only replied with "Yeah… I agree."

A loud and dangerous boom reverberated through the room as the occupants on the other side of the bed were leaning over something. Sirius, James and Peter now had soot-blackened faces and all three sat, gaping at Harry's trunk.

"Ouch." Harry said for them, smirking and standing up. "Yeah, should've warned you about that. I, um, appreciate my privacy."

"That's just paranoia, mate." Sirius said in awe, cautiously standing and arching his back in a stretch, all the while watching the trunk. "You're worse than some Aurors I've seen, and believe me a few of them are really bad. Who did you get to put that charm on your trunk?"

"Dumbledore." Harry said casually, intentionally failing to mention that if you asked the Dumbledore of this time, he wouldn't have an idea of what spell it was. This spell was a little too complex for the Dumbledore of this time period.

"Have anything to do with the war?" Remus asked, and Harry mentally cursed. This conversation wasn't going the way he wanted it to.

"Yeah. That's how my parents were killed. They were one of the first ones dead as a result of Dark Magic, and it was because a traitor, who they thought to be their best friend, gave away their location. I guess I'm a little slow to trust."

"Good thing too!" James chirped, glowing.

"Because you're sleeping in the same dorm as the infamous Marauders, and trusting us to not prank you could be dangerous." Sirius finished, showing Harry a smile identical to James'.

As they laughed through the rest of the night, drinking bottles of butterbeer (Harry realized he'd really taken advantage of the drink, and was making up for all of the time he'd been forbidden to go to Hogsmeade to retrieve some,) they eventually fell asleep, all piled somewhere on a single bed, exhausted but happy.

But at some point in the night, Peter Pettigrew was pushed onto the floor in his sleep, where he woke up the next morning, feeling more left out than he had since his first year at Hogwarts. He was tempted, but in the end, he didn't wake the new kid up too early for any human to be comfortable. He let him sleep. With any luck Harry Potter would sleep in too late.

James was the next to wake up that morning. Still groggy, he turned to see that Peter had disappeared, which was odd, as Peter was usually the last one awake, and had be dragged out of bed, only finally letting them win because of how hungry he would become.

Next he took the time to study the very amusing scene before him. Harry, who looked just like him, was sleeping curled up against the headboard, looking almost afraid and a little protective. Remus was lying like most normal humans do, only being different by stretching his arms out. (James couldn't resist and had to poke him in the armpit, which, as always, made him slap Sirius in the face.)

But Sirius had to have been the most comical. His limbs were so spread apart and angled so odd, James had to wonder how his friend had managed to stay on the bed. His mouth was open wide, and his tongue was lolling out, as a snore escaped him. James was pretty sure even a volcano couldn't have awoken Sirius from his state of hibernation at the moment.

At that moment, Harry shifted and his bangs hid his lightning bolt scar, and James couldn't help but notice for the second time how alike he and this boy were in appearance, if they were alike in nothing else. Before Harry could shift and ruin his chance, James grabbed the camera and took a picture, smiling at it with affection before turning to wake the others up.

The poor remaining two Marauders, despite sleeping in the same quarters for six years, were too slow. Moony and Padfoot seemed too tired to do anything, let alone to wake up, so neither boys were prepared for the large tub of cold water about to be dumped on their heads.

Harry, however, rolled off the bed just beforehand, and James realized that he hadn't been joking the night before; he really did sleep on needles.

Unfortunately for Harry, there are hangings on the sides of the bed, and landing with you legs still up in the air tangled in the sheets and hangings of a bed with two other boys in it scrambling to catch the boy who had gotten them soaked wasn't a pleasant experience.

"PRONGS!"

With great care, James set the picture on his nightstand, (planning to use it as _Black_mail, on his best friend for his appearance while asleep,) and ran for his life and dignity.

**Please, please, please review? For cookies?**


	3. Chapter 3

**It makes me really sad that people have read this and found it not worthy of a review. Even if you criticize me, I'll still appreciate that you took the time to tell me your opinion on what I wrote. It's the only way I can improve. Please, let me know what you think with a review. **

Poor Professor McGonagall never stood a chance. They had spent all day planning it, walking around talking about it and passing notes around during class about it, working out every little kink, so that even their beloved Minnie, (Only Sirius could call her that and avoid a detention, and he was never given one for calling her Minnie because she knew he wouldn't care if he had one, and it would mean more time spent with Sirius Black.) wouldn't be able to undo the jinxes put on the two look-alikes.

So when the Marauders and the new guy walked in, everyone knew something would go dreadfully wrong at some point during her classes. They didn't have to wait too long. "Harry Potter?"

"Here!"

"You're not Harry Potter, I am!"

These two comments were said in unison by both boys, leaving everyone else in confusion, before both boys turned McGonagall, yelling, "PROFESSOR!"

Sighing, and knowing that she should have seen it coming, McGonagall took a breath to regain her calm air before saying, " Alright, which one of you is James Potter?"

"I AM!"

"But both of you just said you were Harry Potter." A small redhead in the back pointed out logically.

Smiling his most charming smile, James replied with, "Because we are."

But Harry was stuck staring after he did a double take, seeing the girl in so many of the photos he had in his trunk. Lily Evans.

He had been expecting all of the Marauders after he had seen his dad. He had even been able to expect Wormtail, as much as he hated him. But the sight of her alive and annoyed hit him hard, pushing the air out of his lungs. Regaining his voice when Sirius elbowed him, Harry added with a smile, "But if you can guess which one of us is who, we'll change back."

Before McGonagall and Lily could protest, half of the class was leaning forward and shouting guesses. Rolling her eyes, Lily said, "Honestly, James Potter, will you ever grow up! You're so immature!"

James went on to look hurt, but Harry defended both of them, saying, "Yes, but this prank isn't hurting anyone. And you have to admit it's fun! Come on, Lily, you hate James Potter enough to know who he is and how he acts, right?" Harry taunted. He couldn't help but notice how frustrated she was, and at the moment could see what Remus had meant during one of the stories he had heard about his parents. James had enjoyed annoying Lily to some degree because as long as she wasn't lethal, Lily Evans was very fun to annoy.

Rolling her eyes, Lily hesitated for a moment, and then, hesitantly, leaned forward, squinting and brushing her hair out of her eyes, trying to notice any differences between the two. James couldn't help but whoop in success and Harry rewarded Lily with a smile brighter than the Marauders had gotten from him yet that she hesitantly returned.

By the end of class no one had figured out who was who because James and Harry kept switching seats, meaning that as soon as the class thought they had them, the two boys preformed a charm to change the seating. Walking out into the hallway, Sirius slung his arms theatrically over one of the twin-like boys shoulders, saying, "That was great, Prongs."

"Sirius?"

"Hum?"

"I'm Harry."

Remus and Peter were already pretty far behind them, standing in the hallway laughing. James kept walking with them as Sirius removed his arm from Harry's shoulders, grinning at his own mistake, and James tried to laugh too, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

How could his own best mate not know the difference? He and Harry walked differently, and talked differently, Harry using longer and more thought-out words, and James spoke simply to continue the noise.

But he didn't have anything to worry about, right? Harry was different from him. James was an individual, and it wasn't like this new member of the Marauders would be kicking the old one out.

So why did he feel so weird and left out, as Sirius talked to Harry, who was walking where James normally did on his right? And why had Lily Evans smiled at Harry when she never smiled at him, and yet at the time they had looked exactly alike?

Peter was having similar feelings towards Harry Potter, though he wouldn't admit it. This boy, who looked an awful lot like James with prettier eyes, had more secrets but wasn't taking Peter's place among his friends, because the others weren't laughing at Harry. There was nothing to laugh at.

If anything, in fact, the boy kept them grounded a little, helping Remus see any errors in the plans, helping James think up appropriate places and victims, and helping Sirius to plot in the first place.

If Peter hadn't had a place among his friends before, he really didn't now. And that scared him.

But that was all right. Because everyone knows that to be friends, you had to be on your friend's team, and Quidditch try-outs, which Peter had been preparing for, were being held tonight. There was no way he would let the new kid steal anything more from him, besides his friends and place. He couldn't steal Peter's ability to play Quidditch. Not when he'd worked all year to get so good.

"Hey Harry, you going to try out tonight?" Sirius asked, staring when Harry frowned, considering. Well, what did he have to lose?

"Sure."

Harry's mind was racing, as he quickly walked up to the dorms to take out his Firebolt. How would he explain to James and Sirius about his broom…there had to be something he could say to avoid questioning…

Of course.

"Yeah, it's a prototype. My godfather" who's standing right in front of me years younger, "got it for me before…"

But Harry couldn't say anything about Sirius, not while Sirius was standing so nearby. The loss of his godfather hadn't hurt nearly as bad as usual when a semi-version of his godfather had been with him since he had been thrown through time and space, and bringing it up now would only cause the pain and self-pity, two emotions he loathed, to surface. "Before I left for here."

"Will you be seeing him soon?"

"He's dead." Harry stated blandly despite his determination not to mention it. Already he was scaring his friend's away by telling them how many people close to him had died in his life, but he had to knowing what Sirius was getting at. "That's why I'm here. He's dead and he can't get you a broom like this one."

While Harry was thinking about how good it felt it finally just admit his godfather's death to himself, allowing the bittersweet feeling to surround him, Sirius said, "Sorry…shouldn't have asked."

"Yeah, well, I'm kind of used to it. At least you don't pity me. I seem to run through the father-figures…" Harry shifted, unsure of what to say. Sirius, James, the rest of the team, Peter, and three other boys trying out for the seeker position were staring at him in silence. "Well, I'm not the captain. James, what do we do?"

"Oh, right…" For a moment, James had the impression Harry had been talking to Sirius more than anyone else, but then Sirius _had_ asked the question, so it only made sense that Harry would be answering him. Clapping his hands to capture the attention of the others, and trying to take the attention off of poor Harry, James shouted, "Come on. Up in the air, let's see what you lot can do."

Smiling, everyone flew up, as James began.

"The point of the seeker is to catch the snitch, but there's a lot more involved in it than the end of the game and those hundred fifty points. There's always dodging, like a keeper, and catching, like a chaser, and watching more than one thing at a time, like a Beater. Therefore, the seeker needs to be able to do more than see the snitch. You need to be able to chase it, and catch it. We're going to try a few exercises, okay?"

As he said all of this, James had taken out a wooden bow from a few feet below them, and at the last few words he had tossed the quaffle to Sirius, who had expected it and caught it with ease.

Everyone did exceptional with the chaser exercises, and Harry did great at hitting the bludger, deciding that if he hadn't been given the seeker position, he could've been a beater as well. While there were no exercises for keeper, there were many dodging exercises, and eventually, James had limited it to Harry, Peter and Louis Pearson, a third year.

While Harry knew he could see the snitch when James released it, he studied his opponents. Peter, it seemed, had been taught to see it, so he saw glints of it, and caught images of it when it hovered for only a moment before disappearing, but Louis had the abilities of a Beater or Keeper. He wouldn't be any competition.

Deciding not to show off when it wasn't necessary, and not to embarrass Peter, Harry lazily made his way around the pitch, scanning for the snitch through all of the other players, who seemed to be practicing, but were really creating quite the little diversion.

And suddenly he saw a streamline of gold shoot past him, heading downwards. Just behind the gold was Peter, diving for the snitch.

Surprised that the other boy could dive so well, but determined to be able to play next to his father, Harry fell into the dive as well, confident that he could beat the traitor to the golden ball.

But just as they were level, and Peter had his hand outstretched, about to seize Harry's only chance of playing with his father, the snitch so close increased in speed and flew straight up, disappearing again.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Harry silently vowed not to underestimate any of his opponents ever again, past, (or present, as it were,) or future. Slowly, he flew upwards to resume search, while the rest of the team watched him fly in awe.

Peter had been training hard for forever, and had been struggling just a moment ago to catch the snitch. Harry seemed to naturally fall into a dive, and to him and the rest of the team was completely at ease and a natural in the air. From there on, everyone knew, there was no competition. Harry had won.

But Harry's head-on dive after the snitch had everyone watching him again, as Peter hung back, wanting to be the one to catch it but unable to go straight down like that without falling over his broom head-first.

Harry couldn't contain his whoop of excitement as his held up his prize.

"So we know who's on the team, right?" James asked later, as they all toweled off, the dust finally gone from their hair and eyes.

Peter watched as Harry grinned uncontrollably, and wondered if this new boy knew that he had just ruined Peter's only chance at finding somewhere to belong. And as Peter heard Sirius say something to Harry about him being born a natural in the air, and how it seemed be belonged better up in the air than on the ground, Peter wondered if there was anywhere he would be able to fit in.

--


	4. Chapter 4

**Otakuyaoi- thank you, for being the only person willing to review this story. It's reviews that will keep me writing. And it bothers me a lot that others aren't interested enough to review. **

NEWT's, Harry discovered quickly, changed everything quite dramatically, and he had to be grateful that he had Remus in most of his classes, because his future professor acted much like Hermione did, (though Harry knew that no one could ever replace Hermione), reminding him of his homework and helping him keep up.

So it wasn't the classes that he did have Remus in that troubled him…it was the ones that he didn't, though not for the reasons you would think.

No, Harry had no problem with the homework, because it seemed that Hogwarts had been forcing them to study more for the OWL's in his time than they made the students of this time study for their NEWT's. Because most of the spells were so easy, Harry really didn't have a problem mastering them quickly.

Harry's problem was that Lily Evans seemed to have taken him under her wing, and James didn't like it one bit.

It didn't seem that Lily liked Harry as anything more than a friend, for which Harry thanked every god he had ever known. Lily acted a lot like a mother should, making sure he ate enough, (you're too skinny, it's like they didn't feed you wherever you came from,) slept enough, (did you go to bed early enough last night? Because you look horrible,) finished his homework…it was comforting for Harry, to have Lily there to act a lot like a concerned parent would, and another reminder of Hermione…

But he had never though of Hermione like a parent. She had always been a friend…wait, wasn't she more than a friend? No, not in that way, because he didn't look at Ron that way, but they had been through so much, didn't she deserve to be different? Yeah, it was just because of how much they had been through…he didn't look at Hermione like that!

But thinking about Hermione, Ron, and everything else about the present reminded Harry of home, and how he could get back there…

Did he even want to go back there?

It was as he was asking himself this that Lily, who had been speaking to him the entire time, (it had all gone through his left ear, and out his right,) broke away from him to get to another one of her classes, and Sirius stepped up, a concerned look on his face.

"Harry, mate? You okay?"

Harry and Sirius had become extremely close ever since his arrival, and at this point, Sirius could read Harry as easily as a book, ("HEY! I can too read, James!" he had replied, when he had used this same metaphor in front of the group.) So it was pretty much useless for Harry to deny that something was bothering him.

And he didn't have much to tell. Every time Harry brought up his family, Sirius shut up, not knowing how to handle someone in grief, and changed the topic. As amusing as Harry had found it, the pity was getting old.

"Not really. Is James mad at me for something?" Harry replied instead, not expecting Sirius to answer with,

"Well, yeah. I mean, Lily's never so much as looked his way, has she, and he's liked her for years. Now, she's with you as much as you're with us."

It took a moment for Harry to think enough to reply, "But it isn't like that between us…its just family affection. Really. I mean…"

"I know…" Sirius murmured, and Harry knew why he was all of a sudden uncomfortable. If forced to pick sides, Sirius would have to follow his best friend, whether he agreed with him or not. It was like a code they had, and stuck to.

Not wanting to think about it anymore, Harry switched topics. This one, he knew, would catch Sirius's attention. "So, what's been up with Remus today?"

"What about him?" Sirius asked, trying to seem nonchalant. How could Harry have already picked up on the changes Remus was going through? It was still three days till full moon, and Remus wasn't usually bad until the day beforehand. Aside from the pale skin, which Remus nearly always had, he had looked and acted as normal as possible, even if he had been a little on edge.

"He's just acting a little…strange, don't you think?" Harry responded. "I mean, it's like he's going though something tough right now, and I'm worried. Is he angry at me for something too?"

Sirius bit the inside if his cheek in frustration, trying to think everything through. He had been the one in the group that had wanted to tell Harry everything, the whole truth, but he had been the only one. Remus had insisted that he was keeping something from them, James had clearly been jealous, and Peter had simply said, "I don't like him," so they had agreed not to mention Remus being a werewolf, even after Harry had admitted to befriending one before.

But Harry was picking up on it so quickly; they may not have a choice.

"Nah, he's just very stressed out right now. Has been all year, actually. I think it's because of NEWT's." He replied instead, promising that he would talk to Remus later. Harry was worried. He had a right to know what was wrong with his friend.

But while Sirius was unconsciously making excuses, inside he knew the truth, and he admitted it to himself a moment later. He wanted to be best friends with Harry. He wanted to protect Harry, and help Harry, and comfort Harry, but was afraid to make a mistake about it. And as he thought about it, he realized that what he was doing, or wanted to do, was almost like how Lily acted, if not stronger. He wanted to help the new boy out.

Harry almost laughed as he watched Sirius's reaction to his simple question, but his mood quickly darkened as he thought about the last comment. If James were mad at him over Lily, he'd have to do something about it. He only had so much time to befriend his father; he wasn't going to waste it fighting with him.

Waving at Sirius, who was meeting Peter for dinner, ("you need to come soon, too! If you don't eat more…) Harry headed up the stairs to the dorm rooms, confident that James and Remus were up there.

He hesitated only enough to hear James say, "Are you sure you're feeling alright? You don't normally go through it this early, it usually doesn't happen until-"

"I'm fine, Prongs." Remus replied, sounding like he was too tired to snap at his friend. "I'll meet you after dinner for a trip to the kitchens if I'm hungry then. I'm just not now, you know how that is."

"Yeah, okay."

Harry, knowing that the conversation was about Remus and his transformations, also knew from Remus's tone of voice that conversation was over, and walked in, aware of the two pairs of eyes watching his every move. Grinning, he removed the charms from around his trunk one by one, making it take as long as possible, and finally pulling a book he had been reading before he had come a few weeks ago. Looking up as he redid all of the charms, he asked, "You ever get that feeling you're being watched?"

James smirked, saying, "Well, sorry about watching you like that, but I don't think I will ever lose amusement by watching you and your paranoia. Besides, with charms like that on your trunk, you must have that feeling of being watched all the time."

Remus just shook his head, but obviously noticed the tension in the atmosphere around him, and murmured, "I'm going to get some air while I'm allowed to," before walking away.

Meanwhile, James stood, unsure of Harry, or what he was planning. The calculating look on his face said that he was thinking about how to approach the situation without James blowing up, until he seemed to simply lose any patience in asking the question and simply asked, "Are you mad at me?"

Swallowing his real reply, James said, "No."

"Is it because of Sirius? Because he's still your best friend. If you asked him, he'd side without thinking."

James wanted to say something like, "He shouldn't have to think, he's supposed to be my best friend without debate," but instead what came out was, "No, it's not Sirius."

"Is it about how I look? Because, it's not my fault that I look like you."

"No. It's not that."

"Is it about Lily?"

Swallowing harder, James grounded out, "no, it's not that."

Harry growled in frustration, asking, "Then what is it that has you so ticked off? Because you've been acting different to me for a while now."

James hadn't wanted to blow up at Harry. He wasn't sure what his emotions towards the boy were, but he hadn't wanted to hurt him, or make him angry with him…it wasn't pity, because Harry was a strong individual. It wasn't jealousy, because he had always been comfortable with himself and the way he was. It was more of a need to comfort his new friend, to protect him and worry about him.

But this last question, and the hurt and anger behind it, made him reply with, "It's all of it, okay? It isn't enough that you stole my best friend, or that you stole my identity, or that you stole my girl. It's just, I was laying in bed last night thinking, and I realized that you have everything I want at the moment. Freedom, and Lily, and Sirius, and reason, _Lily_, and teachers liking you, and knowledge, _and Lily_, and the whole school already likes you, and somehow it's like you stole everything good about me, and changed the bad. And it's just frustrating, because everything I've already worked for, you already have."

Harry just sat there silently, letting James let it all out, and listened to every word. When the rant, which had continued, finally did die down, Harry looked up at his frustrated friend, still silent.

"Thanks." James muttered, head down and feeling sheepish. Harry had taken the attack so calmly that at the moment he felt like an idiot.

"No problem. I'm not here to take Lily. I'm not here to take Sirius. And I'm not here to replace you, or anyone else. I'm not even here for long, I'll have to leave again soon." Harry replied, knowing that at some point, he would have to leave the past behind him. "But if it helps, they say that imitation is the greatest form of flattery."

Grinning, James replied, "It helps." Looking down at Harry, and deciding to ask him about where he was leaving to later, he said, "So, dinner?"

"I think it's over. Dessert should be starting soon though." Harry replied, grinning. James, smirking, opened the door and let Harry out before him, then closed it on the dorm along with all the bitterness and envy he had felt towards Harry.

But as they walked down together, both of them knew that while they were friends, they weren't anywhere near as trusting as they would like to be. The knowledge of the secrets they were keeping from Harry was slowly eating at James with guilt, and while Harry didn't show that he knew about Remus and his condition, inside the feelings of hurt were eating him up too. What would he have to do to get the four friends to trust him?

Sirius smiled in welcome as they approached the table, sending a questioning look to James, while Harry replied without needing to be asked, "Remus went on a walk."

Nodding, Sirius turned back to his food. So Remus was going through it early this month, he thought. That would explain why Harry had so easily caught on. Combine that with the knowledge that came with a werewolf as a best friend, and Harry was bound to figure it all out soon. He may not know what Sirius, Peter, and James were doing out of bed, but piecing it all together about Remus wouldn't be difficult.

What would they tell Harry in two days time? Surely, Peter thought, they wouldn't bring him with them. He couldn't transform, couldn't run with them. He would only be a distraction, another person to watch out for, and another person to get in the way. Besides, some things, Peter decided, needed to be kept a secret. That was the point of the Marauders. Everyone may know who they are, but how they do what they do, why they are called what they're called, and where they disappeared to once a month was a mystery. How they moved about the school unseen was even bigger of a mystery, and Peter knew that James, Remus, and Sirius would never give their secrets, the ones they'd been protecting for years, away to someone who was as good as a stranger.

But he frowned as James sat next to Harry, rather then between him and Sirius where he usually sat. Sirius, who was into a deck of cards spread meticulously around him, wouldn't have been great company for James anyways, but the last time they had been able to talk without Harry there, during one of the classes he hadn't had with Peter, James, and Sirius, James had been angry rightfully about how the new boy had stolen his identity. How could two people who were supposed to be strangers, or even at odds, be acting so friendly?


	5. Chapter 5

**AN- I'm so excited! I have all of 2 reviews! I'd really like a few more, but it makes me feel better to see that some people have liked it enough to add the story as a favorite. **

**As to jmeec316- I can't tell you ;) But I will say that you're sharp- you caught on quick! Keep reading and you'll find out**

As the two days between Remus's transformation passed, his condition worsened, and at one point he had to be hospitalized before the transformation, something that had never happened before. Harry knew it was his fault, because changes in time, even tweaks, would leave the lunar schedule all messed up, and so spent a lot of his time visiting the bedridden werewolf, worried about how pale he had become.

It was on one such visit that James pulled Harry aside, saying, "Harry? Come here for a second."

Heart pounding, Harry walked over to his younger father, but the words James said weren't the ones he had wanted to hear. Instead of explaining the truth, he whispered, "I think Remus has to be taken out of Hogwarts to be cured. I'm sure after St. Mungos is finished healing him, he'll be good as new, but he'll be gone tonight. We're planning on going with him. Sorry, but only the three of us can go, and-"

"It's all right," Harry responded quickly, covering his hurt just barely. "I had plans tonight with Lily anyways." At the look James gave him, Harry shook his head and relied, "No, nothing like that. She's just helping me out with a complex potion. It's fine, I hope Remus's well soon. See you tomorrow." And left.

And as Sirius watched him leave through the swinging doors, he knew what James didn't; while James and Peter were high-fiving their success at keeping Harry from suspecting them while not getting him hurt, he knew it wouldn't do to leave Harry on these terms. He was obviously hurt and hiding it, and leaving him alone on a night like this didn't feel right.

Especially since Lily tutored every Wednesday night, and there was no way she was tutoring Harry, who was nearly smarter than Remus.

"Padfoot?" James asked in question, as he looked at Sirius's face, the smile slowly turning into a concerned frown.

"Huh?" When he realized that Remus, James, and Peter were staring at him in confusion and concern, he continued to say, "Oh, right. You guys go ahead, I have a few things to finish up. I'll be there later on."

"Sirius-" James began scolding, but Remus cut him off with,

"I understand. You go finish things up, we'll see you later." His words were a clear indicator that he knew what Sirius was going to do, and was encouraging him to do so. Sighing, Sirius left his friends, who were arguing and scolding Remus for letting Sirius get away with skipping out on him, and tried instead to concentrate on everything he needed to know.

He wasn't sure what he would say when he found Harry, because he had never been good with words or emotions, but finding him would feel better than losing him. And Sirius was pretty sure that if he let Harry walk away hurt like he was, and feeling alone, Harry would become cold, and closed off to them like he had been when he had first come.

Finding Harry wasn't that difficult, to his surprise. He simply went to wherever Remus went when he needed to think undisturbed, (though because Sirius knew where this was, he could no longer sit there undisturbed,) the bridge. It overlooked a lot of the grounds, and was always hushed up and silent. (Unless Sirius wanted to get Remus out of his melancholy mood, in which case the hall became incredibly loud.) The perfect place to think.

But unless you'd been to Hogwarts for a while, you wouldn't know how to get there.

This left Sirius wondering how Harry knew exactly how to get to this bridge. Obvious places to think, like the lake, grounds, common room, would've been understandable. They were easy to find. But how had he found his way here, and so quickly?

And then Sirius wondered why he had checked here for Harry first, even though Harry probably wouldn't have known his way here and Sirius hadn't went here in forever. This place hadn't even crossed his mind…

"Hi Sirius," a quiet voice said. Raising an eyebrow, Sirius replied,

"Hey, Harry. How did you know it was me?"

"You walk too loudly. I don't think you could go more than a few moments with silence." That was true enough. The walkway walls echoed, and his footsteps were heavy. It stood to reason that it was him.

"But how did you find this place?" He asked, watching his friend's face carefully for any reaction.

"I dunno. I walked, and this is where I ended up." Harry replied, carefully keeping his face blank. He had only been here once, in his third year, when Lupin, (from his own time,) had shown him this stop to talk in. **(I know that this isn't in the book, but it's in the movie. You know, the part when Lupin says, "you're more like them than you know". Work with me here.) **He had said that no one ever came here, so they couldn't be disturbed. Of course, he had also said that only his best friends had ever found him while hiding here. Why hadn't he realized that Sirius would know how to get here?

"But that doesn't make sense." Sirius argued, startling him out of his musings. "I mean, if you've never been here, you wouldn't know how to get here…and how would you have gotten back?"

"Well…" thinking back, he remembered his godfather once saying to him, `I swear, those walls have ears. There's no other way we could've gotten caught during half of our pranks. That castle has a mind of it's own.' "A friend who went here once told me that this castle has a mind of it's own."

"Not possible." Sirius argued. "I mean, the walls only act the way they do because of enchantments put on them forever ago."

"Explain the staircases."

"More charms."

"And the Room of Requirement?"

"The _what_?" and Harry was brutally reminded that the man he was talking to, standing next to him bickering like a longtime friend, wasn't his godfather. This man wouldn't be his godfather for a while.

"Nothing."

Sirius could tell that this room Harry had mentioned was something to check into, (just the name gave that away,) but he wouldn't push it now. Harry's mood seemed to have darkened even more, and they weren't there to talk about any magic in a room. If Hogwarts did have a mind of it's own, it probably had eyes too. He wasn't about to mess up.

And if he wasn't going to mess up, he wasn't going to talk. Not until he had to, and was sure of what he was going to say.

The sun began to set, and Sirius realized that nearly an hour had gone by since he had left to look for Harry, and still neither of them had said anything. The cold was making his nose and cheeks burn, and Remus would be transforming soon, but it still didn't feel right leaving. If he didn't hurry, they'd see Remus being led out to the willow, and Harry would be hurting worse because of that story. He'd know, then that it wasn't true.

Finally, Sirius just out and asked, "Harry, what's wrong?"

Harry was about to reply what he always had, but found that he couldn't. The words couldn't make it passed the lump in his throat as he stared at the place the whole event that led up to meeting Sirius three years ago; the Whomping Willow.

"You just remind me of someone, that's all. I keep forgetting that you aren't him, and every time I realize that you aren't him, I remember that he's dead…I came here to try and get past all of that, by coming to find him."

"But you just said that he was dead."

"I mean find his memory." Harry corrected, cursing himself. "I need to be able to move on. But so much has happened to me lately…I feel like I don't have time to mourn. In the time that I do have to mourn, I can't. I can't even get over the fact that he's dead, so getting over him is a bit of a problem."

Sirius frowned. He had never lost someone before, so he couldn't relate, but what Harry had said hadn't sounded right to him. "Well, who ever said you had to give him up, or let him go?"

"He's gone." Harry replied, bleakly.

"Well, yes, but letting go of him…I mean, isn't that a bit harsh? You can hold on to his memory, right?"

"_What_?"

Sirius couldn't blame him for asking. That hadn't even made sense to him. "I just mean that you going after him, or his memory, or whatever it is you're trying to find, isn't probably that way to go about it. I mean, he probably doesn't want you moping over him, all cold and mistrusting like you are. And mulling over him, and how great he was, and how you could've helped him, isn't going to help you, or him if he cared about you."

"You think?" Harry asked, surprised that Sirius could come up with this so suddenly.

"Yeah. I mean, I know I'm a goof, but people seem to think that makes me emotionless. But I feel guilty all the time. I doubt myself a lot, and I do get depressed, even if it's only until I see James and the two of us wreck havoc again. So I know if I were to die, and you went to look for me, I'd feel guilty up in heaven about holding you back, and leaving you like I did." Sirius now knew that all of those books he had read as a child, the ones his mother had said were going to taint his mind, were more than just adventure. It was probably a good thing that he hadn't skipped over all of the `mushy' talks between the characters.

But what he was saying was one hundred-percent true.

"Huh."

"Bet you hadn't thought about it that way, huh?"

"Nope. I hadn't. So where did that talk come from?" Harry asked, feeling lighter than he had in months.

Sighing, Sirius said in mock depression, "See, everyone always assumes that I have no emotions," throwing his hands up to show that he gave up.

Grinning, Harry watched as the sun set with Sirius, in silence, and then both he and Sirius headed back inside, Sirius saying that he had to go try to help Remus, with the rest of the Marauders. Harry let him leave, knowing where he was going, but feeling a lot better about it. For the first time, he was at peace with his godfather and his death. Maybe tonight he would be able to dream about something other than a wind-blown veil. Like Hermione…

Where had that thought come from?

Trying to push the funny feeling in his stomach away, Harry turned his thoughts back to Remus, Sirius, James and Peter as he heard a loud howl that seemed to echo through the halls. He'd let them continue this tradition without him. And they would tell him when they were ready.

--


	6. Chapter 6

**To the reviewers, specifically emberryred. You make it worth it. **

**Disclaimer- I don't own it. I never will. **

That night was an uneventful one, where the Marauders simply wasted hours by rampaging through the Forbidden Forest. Sirius had come, but been too late for them to travel farther up some of the mountains, so their planned search for the caves and crevasses had been postponed.

Exhausted and dirty, the four friends each fell into their beds, three of them falling asleep right away.

One, however, did not.

Sirius couldn't help replaying the conversation that had taken place earlier in his head. He couldn't forget the look of intense pain and sadness on Harry's face. Couldn't help remembering the dull edge of Harry's tone, the glazed look in his eyes. What had those eyes seen that had made them so…devastated?

And as he was thinking all of this over, (he had too much adrenaline in his system to actually sleep,) he heard muted cries from Harry's bed…but Harry should've fallen asleep a long time ago, right? He tried to block it out, not wanting another heart-to-heart with Harry because of the awkward emotions involved, until he heard his name.

"Sirius, no!"

Harry knew, as soon as he saw his parents standing there, that he was dreaming again. It was remembering, rather, because he was watching his parents on the last night they had been alive.

His nightmares of Sirius falling through a veil must have been replaced, he supposed, by the realization that he could've changed things, and still could. He could warn them. There was still time.

Now his father was fighting Voldemort. Now his mother was running, and tripping over her skirt. Pleading for her son's life. Dead.

And now was the one other thing he needed changed. The one other thing that could've fixed his life, made it a little easier. Sirius.

He watched as Sirius walked among the rubble, his face crumbling at James's body. He watched his godfather carefully put the pieces of his father's wand by his body. He tried to comfort him as he mourned over Lily, only to have himself ignored. Watched as Sirius picked a baby up from the ruins of the house, and nearly screamed in frustration as Sirius finally carefully handed the baby over and picked up his motorcycle helmet, handing it equally as carefully to Hagrid.

He watched in anger as Sirius disappeared, shouting as loud as he could. Sirius didn't hear him, but he had to say it anyways, to know that he tried.

"Sirius, DON'T GO AFTER PETER!"

It was a lot like Harry was having a prophecy, a vision Sirius thought. The whispered words were too clear, too direct, to be from any nightmare. Harry settled down after he had murmured the warning, shaking but gradually drifting off to sleep.

And Sirius decided, before he slept, that he would take that advice and refrain from going after Peter.

Several days passed, and amazingly, few things changed. In fact, other than a few major pranks, no one was offended, hurt physically, or put into near-death predicaments.

Harry began spending more and more time with Lily, studying and just talking, getting to know her better. He always heard about his dad, and how wonderful his dad was, but his dad reminded him a lot of Ron. A loyal friend, but a little jealous, a bright student, but unwilling to learn. In fact Sirius reminded his of himself, reining James in all the time, as he often had to rein in Ron, and Remus reminded him of Hermione… a little bit. There was no Peter in his group, so he didn't have to worry. It was the only thing that kept him from feeling alone every once in a while, but it was also a danger. He couldn't trust the Marauders to keep his secret, and couldn't risk changing time. He wasn't home, and he needed to remember not to get too comfortable here.

It was difficult though, with everything that was happening. It seemed that while the muggle word had changed quite a bit through time, Hogwarts and it's behavior was always the same. His parent's generation, if anything, was more lucid, and easier to get along with, then his own. No one paid him much attention here, and that was just fine with him. Here was safe.

And the Marauders lived in a way he and his friends had forgotten since their first year. Even then he, Hermione, and Ron had been worrying over what was under the trap door, then wondering how to protect it, and who was after it. The late night discussions had been over the dangers to the school.

If the Marauders had a late night discussion, it was about girls, or Quidditch, or even things as trivial as food. It was like the Marauders had no worries, and no sense of time. Nothing was too rushed, and no boundaries were set to hold them in.

Harry could also see why Severus Snape had never like his father and Sirius. Humiliation was always at the hands of the Marauders, but instead of spreading it generally to the school, they focused it on one Severus Snape.

And pairing James and Snape for potions? A disaster.

"It's simple, Potter, something even you can handle. All you have to do is watch me fix the potion." Snape's oily voice said. Harry looked up at the same time Sirius did, shooting his friend a look to keep him from doing anything stupid. Obeying, Sirius listened.

"Sorry, no can do, Snivellus. My grade depends on my participation, so participate I will." James replied, annoyed. Couldn't Snape find some other way to bother him? "I'm cutting the bat wings."

"What, and risk human fingers in our potion? I'll cut the bat wings." Snape replied. He stopped putting ingredients in when Potter replied with,

"Why Snivellus, you don't have wings, how ever did they manage to find such a big bat?"

He knew that he was knocking over several key ingredients in doing it, but it was worth it to see Potter struggle to breathe. He may not be wonderful at cursing, but he had a grip that could kill.

Sirius said several fowl words and stood, knocking over his stool, and Harry didn't stop him. James hadn't thrown the first punch, so this was in defense.

Sirius tried to levitate Snape off of James, but his grip stayed strong, and instead, James found himself hanging by his neck in the air, feet a few inches off of the ground. Harry silently preformed an advanced charm from the DA, praying that no one would notice with all of the screaming girls watching Hogwarts heartthrob hanging by his neck. The energy he had zapped into Snape made the boy drop James, and James took the opportunity to scramble to his feet and cast a charm on his attacker. The charm must have worked, because Snape went flying upward, and was hanging off of an ingredients hook on the wall, with garlic hanging behind him, by his underwear.

But James wasn't wiling to stop there. Noticing that his father was about to do something he'd regret, especially since Lily was watching, Harry gripped James's shoulder, saying, "Ignore him. He's just as you said, an over-grown bat."

"So I'll make him into one." James replied simply, putting his wand arm out, but Harry gripped his wrist and pulled the hand down.

"No. Don't waste your time."

James gave him and incredulous look, and finally said, "I know you've had a rough life, but don't you have any fun?"

Sirius watched the exchange carefully as Harry said, "Loads. I have Quidditch, the occasional good prank, and midnight excursions, usually to the kitchens, remember? But I don't have to pick on people to enjoy myself."

"But he nearly killed me!" James replied, starting to get angry.

"I know that, and he'll be punished by the headmaster. But you've already gotten him. He's up there, and embarrassed, and you've gotten him off of you. It'd be wrong to pick on him now."

"Why?" Peter asked, from behind James's elbow.

"Because, he's already defenseless. He doesn't have his wand, his feet aren't on the floor, and the slightest move is really going to hurt."

"Yeah, but that's just it." James said, as though explaining it to a child. "It's an easy way to get him back. He can't get to us, and we can't get in trouble, because we were just defending ourselves."

"James, you've defended yourself. You've done a through job of it, and there's nothing wrong with what you just did." Remus said, stepping up. Harry smiled gratefully at him, and continued for Remus, saying,

"But if you attack him now, you'd be worse than him. It'd be like a Death Eater attacking a muggle. They can't defend themselves."

Slowly, looking at Harry and Remus, James lowered his wand. Silently Sirius applauded, suddenly seeing Harry's reasoning, and realizing that this was the reason Remus never had continued with them past the defense point.

"I don't believe this." He heard Peter say. "Are you really going to worship everything he says?"

"He's right, though, Peter." Remus pointed out.

"But Sirius and James have always done this! It's something that doesn't change. Harry's seen us do this before!"

"Not to this extent, or he would've stopped us then, I'm sure." James said, looking at Harry for back up, which Harry quickly gave. He saw Lily smile at him from behind Harry, who was nodding, and grinned back, internally doing cartwheels. Peter was right; everything had been different since Harry's arrival. He liked it.

Peter didn't. As Harry nodded, and Peter noted that everyone was taking his word for it, he decided that he wanted to get power like that over people. No one ever listened to him, and the only people who had ever listened to him, his friends, (even if they had only listened to him to poke fun at him) were now listening to Harry. He would do whatever it took to gain that sort of power over people. It was then that he decided to go to Malfoy. Malfoy was sure to be a Death Eater, a stronger one. So what if he was a little younger? He could get Peter a position as a Death Eater.

What Peter didn't realize was that people didn't listen to Harry because they feared him, like they did because they feared Voldemort. No, they respected him, and sometime respect outweighs fear.

"So what should we do with him?" James asked, still grinning, even though Peter had just stormed out. Lily had smiled at him!

"Well…I don't see why we can't just leave him here. I mean, it was in self defense…" Sirius said hopefully.

"Go after Peter, Sirius." Remus urged, ignoring them. "He looked really upset, and you're the only one who didn't disagree with him."

But Sirius remembered what he had told himself, and remembered the frustration and fear in Harry's voice. Most of all, he remembered Harry words. " Sirius! Don't go after Peter!" They may have been whispered, but they were said, and Sirius would listen to them.

There would come a time when he'd wish he hadn't.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer- Don't own. Never have. Never will**

It had taken many fights, more than a few ground rules, and quite a few talks with Harry, but eventually James and Lily had formed an uneasy truce. They still didn't talk about personal matters with one another, but by the middle of November they could at least have a civil conversation about their Head duties and homework.

James was thrilled every time he talked to Lily, even if it was just for a few moments. He'd wait until she was out of earshot, and then tell the rest of his friends all about their conversation, even if it was just a few words, then fall into his monologue on how beautiful and smart and sweet Lily was.

At first, Harry had found it funny. Then, he had learned to tolerate it. Then, he had tried to block it out.

But by now, it was just getting annoying.

"Why doesn't he ever actually tell her all of these things, instead of repeating them to us over and over again?" Harry asked Remus, exasperated.

Remus smirked. "He can stand up to the most frightening of teachers, and talk back to the Headmaster himself, but when it comes it Lily, James just isn't brave enough." Somehow, this reminded Harry of something Hermione had said once. Only she'd been ranting about how he could face Voldemort time and time again and yet he couldn't just apologize to Cho for doing something stupid.

"Harry?" Remus was waving his hand in front of his friend's face. He knew that dazed expression all too well; it was the same one James wore every time he talked about Lily. Harry rarely wore such an expression, and Remus was curious to what or who could've caused it, but he didn't feel that he knew Harry well enough to ask. Instead, he asked, "Why? Did you have something in mind?"

"Huh?"

Patiently, Remus gave a brief summery of their conversation just moments before and repeated his question. "Did you think of some way to get James to stop talking to us about Lily and start talking to Lily?"

Slowly, a frightening grin grew on Harry's face. "Yeah. I might have some idea."

Remus would've been afraid. In fact, had that grin been directed towards himself, he definitely would have run for his life. But as it was, that evil smile was directed towards James, so Remus leaned forward with a matching expression that held interest and amusement.

"Well, what'd you have in mind?"

Sirius smiled slightly as he walked into the dorms later and saw Harry and Remus huddled together on Harry's bed, their homework forgotten, as they leaned over a piece of parchment. A very familiar piece of parchment…

"You showed him the map?" Sirius asked, his voice rising slightly.

Remus arched one eyebrow up at him and said, "Yeah. Why?"

"Well…it's just, we're all supposed to vote before we show something like that to anyone, even Harry. You know that!" For some reason, it upset Sirius to see that Harry had gotten so close to Remus, to see that Remus had shown Harry the map without him being there to see. Somehow, he felt a little left out.

"But…I thought you were all for us telling Harry everything, remember?" Remus asked, hesitantly. He always hated fighting with the friends he still couldn't believe he had and didn't want to lose.

"Well, yeah, I'm all for it, but James might not be! Or Peter! How could you not ask any of us?"

"I made it." Remus pointed out logically. "Therefore, the map is mine to show to whomever I choose. Besides, we couldn't tell this to James."

Something about the smile on Remus's face and the light in Harry's eyes told Sirius that maybe he should just forget about Marauder protocol this once. If Remus was breaking tradition for whatever it was they were doing, then it had to be worth it.

"Well, I might have to let it pass this once. It depends." Sirius smile made both of them return the grin. "What're we doing?"

When the three boys left the dormitory the next morning, identical smirks on their faces, everyone within three feet of them instinctively took a step back and winced. Someone was going to be pranked, and everyone hoped it wasn't them.

Lily was instantly suspicious when she saw those innocent looks. She had, in the last several months, gotten to know Harry Potter very well, and if there was one thing she knew about him, it was this; Harry Potter was _never_ innocent.

"You have any idea what they're up to?" She muttered under her breath to James, who was sitting two seats down, the space between them reserved for Harry. Bemused, James shook his head. Some poor sod was about to be the victim of a prank.

"No idea." He replied, adding at Lily's look, "Really, I don't know what they're doing. I was in the Prefect meeting until late last night, remember? By the time I was up there, they were already in bed. I was really bummed, too. I'd wanted to tell them about the new Seventh year privileges." Lily studied his face for a moment, and when she saw only sincere honesty, she reluctantly nodded.

All day everyone was expecting some sort of elaborate prank, but none ever came. Everything seemed normal, aside from the time that Sirius, Remus, and Harry spent in the library, bent over books about Charms and Hogwarts. Otherwise, the day was average, and it wasn't until much later that night that anyone was pranked at all.

Lily sighed when the stairs started to shift again. It was late at night, she'd been patrolling the halls silently with James Potter for hours on end, and she just wanted to go to bed. Even after years at Hogwarts, she didn't understand why the stairs had to shift and stick her in some deserted corridor at exactly the wrong moment.

But the staircase didn't move to another corridor. It got about halfway there, and then stopped in midair, leaving Lily and James with no way of getting anywhere.

They waited for a few moments before either of them said anything. Finally, James said, "I don't think it's moving."

Lily rolled her eyes, sat on a step, and buried her head in her hands. "Well, how do we get off then?"

"I don't know." James answered easily. He didn't seem at all upset or tired, just curious. "Are the stairs even supposed to be able to do this? I mean, what if this happened in between classes and students were stuck here?"

Lily shook her head. "I read about it in `Hogwarts, A History.'" From his little hiding space in a nearby corner, Harry felt a pang. Every time someone mentioned that book, he remembered Hermione, and felt a pang of homesickness and sadness. He listened again to his extendable ears.

"This was an old defense strategy for the castle." She continued, then sighed when James shot her a puzzled look. "If enemies were creeping about the castle at night, they couldn't really get anywhere, now could they?"

"But…but what about the students?" James asked.

Lily smiled slightly. "The students knew better than to slip out of bed at night."

James frowned as he thought about this. Deciding that it made sense, he asked, "Well why don't they do this anymore? Then we wouldn't have to patrol all the time; the castle could take care of it for us."

Lily frowned, not as though she was annoyed, but as though she were trying to remember. "I think someone tried to jump to another floor beneath them, slipped, and died." James raised both of his eyebrows and shook his head.

"Well, there goes my first suggestion." Lily spared him a tired smile, and James felt a jolt of energy. "So what do we do now?"

Lily ran a hand through her short red hair, like James always had through his messy black hair. The gesture was out of frustration, but James couldn't help but smile. She wasn't purposely being hypocritical, but he couldn't help but think that maybe she'd picked this gestured up after yelling at him for doing it so many times.

"I don't know." Lily murmured tiredly. "If the whole castle's gone into defense mode, doing any sort of magic in the halls really isn't a good idea. The founders cast all sorts of jinxes and curses to prevent people from doing anything at night." James nodded, thinking of that kid trying to jump to the floor below and just missing, then falling, falling…

Shaken by the idea of that happening to him, James sat a few steps up from Lily.

Eventually, James really got tired of the silence. He didn't do well with silence, and he'd always been more awake at night than during the day. Most of his friends joked that he was nocturnal, but all of the Marauders could handle late nights pretty well; they were used to them.

"Do you think there's a reason the castle's like this?" James asked, concerned.

Lily's head shot up from where it was still buried in her hands, her eyes wide. "Oh, I didn't think about that…someone could be hurt, or in danger. Oh…but we're responsible for all of the students."

"If something had happened, we would've seen it when we were patrolling though, right?" James asked logically. His voice sounded like he was trying to convince himself as much as he was trying to convince her.

"Right…" She murmured uneasily, biting her lip. She noticed the concerned expression on James's face, and instantly jumped to the wrong conclusion. "You do know what it is that your friends are up to! I bet you four have been planning this all along! And now you're worried that they've been caught in the dark somewhere pulling some prank!"

James's concern transformed into anger. "Yeah, I'm worried about my friends, but not because I think they've gotten caught. We don't get caught when we pull a prank. But someone might be hurt, and it really wouldn't surprise me if it were Sirius or Harry or Remus or Peter! Peter's been acting really distant since Harry came, and Sirius just seems to go looking for trouble, and Remus just seems to find trouble and Harry…" James smiled slightly and calmed down as he thought of a way to describe Harry.

"Harry just seems to be trouble?" Lily finished helpfully, a small smile on her face. Harry did seem to change a lot of people's lives. It really was a lot like in her life there was a BH, for Before Harry, and an AH, for After Harry. If someone was hurt or in trouble, chances were Harry had something to do with it.

"Yeah." James said quietly, running his fingers through his hair out of habit before letting them rest in his lap. Lily thought about it, but in the end didn't tell James off for running his hand over his hair again. Sure, it made his hair messier, but he didn't seem to do it on purpose anymore. Now it sort of seemed more like a nervous movement.

"Sorry. It's just…I guess it's just habit to blame things on you." Lily muttered half-heartedly.

"Well, I wonder why." James said sarcastically. "It really isn't always my fault. Sometimes it's Snape's, or Sirius's, or someone completely and totally unrelated to me."

"Fine. 99.9% of the time, it's you." Lily deadpanned, and James grinned and nodded in agreement. Seeing his dopey smile, Lily couldn't help but smile herself. "You really do like causing trouble." She said, the laughter in her eyes contrasting with her serious face.

James again nodded easily. "But you have to admit, I've been a little better."

"A lot better." Lily agreed. Ever since Harry had set James and his crew straight on what was considered fair when attacking an opponent, the pranks had been enjoyable and light. It was like there was also a BH James and an AH James, and Lily found that she didn't really mind the AH James.

"So why'd you change?"

James began to realize that he was having an actual conversation with Lily Evans and brightened up considerably, and proceeded to talk to Lily about anything and nearly everything for the rest of that night. It wasn't until the sun began to filter in through the windows that the staircase gave an abrupt jolt that they both stood up. Lily tried to straighten herself up, and James dragged himself up, clinging onto the rail of the stairs.

"Well…I'm going to bed." The staircase came to an abrupt stop as it reached the proper corridor, and Lily nearly fell back down. James quickly and gently gripped her elbow and helped her regain her balance. When she gave him a questioning look, he smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry. Reflexes. I'm not a seeker anymore, but they're still there." Lily smiled slightly, then tucked her hair behind her ear and murmured a quiet, `thank you' before she turned away and began her walk towards their dorms. James took the time to pick up his bag carefully and stretch, but called out down the hall, "Good night, Lily."

Lily turned around to walk backwards for a moment, so that she was facing him, and called back, "Good night, James."

Grinning triumphantly, James began to walk not towards Gryffindor tower, but instead towards a banister a few feet away.

Slumped behind it and sound asleep were Sirius, Remus, and Harry. James grinned and conjured a bucket of cold water, glad that he was able to use magic again. Slowly he positioned the bucket over his friend's head, and then levitated it until it hovered just over Sirius, who was in the middle and snoring slightly.

Had anyone been in the halls and watching, they would've wondered why Remus, Sirius and Harry were chasing James down the corridor at six in the morning, soaking wet and angry, while James cackled merrily and ran, waving his arms all over the place.

Peter, clutching the new mark that had been burned onto his arm, sure wondered what the heck his friends were doing when he was heading back from the Slytherin dorms and saw them. For a moment, as he watched them run and laugh, he wondered if he'd made a mistake by going to Lucius Malfoy and taking the mark from the Dark Lord.

But then he watched Harry trip over a hysterical James, and saw Sirius and Remus fall into the dog pile, and reflected that maybe this would be the thing to get him there. He hadn't been like that with his friends even before Harry had come, and now it hurt to see someone so new be accepted so easily, while Peter, who'd been there since the beginning, had never been accepted at all.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer- Nothing's mine but the idea of the fic…**

**Nosi- I didn't get your review until after I had posted the other chapter, or I would've replied before. I'm glad you enjoyed it- I was worried that some people wouldn't understand all the implications. Hope you continue to enjoy!**

**Sunshinefarah- Thank you SO much for your review- it's that kindest that I've had so far on this site! I'm so so glad you're enjoying it. And you're right, it is missing a few key points, and there will be some bald patches, but I can't contribute too much time to the writing of the story and I'm afraid that I'm just not smart enough to think of that hahaha. Perhaps when I have completed the story I will be able to go back and do some editing, which would include adding new elements to the story explaining your questions. **

**KKool- Thank you- I really hope you keep appreciating the story. I'm going to be honest- originally this was written for a Harry/Hermione pairing, but I'm not planning on taking it that direction anymore, mostly because I wrote the beginning of this story prior to the release of the 7****th**** book, and the Harry/Ginny pairing doesn't fit into the timeline. As a result, I don't think there will be any romantic pairing between Harry and anyone, because it would be too hard to fit in there with Harry being in the past. However, I will be clearly demonstrating the Lily/James pairing, so there will be romance. Thank you for the review, and the kind words! I appreciate them!**

**Hikari-and-Akari—Yes, Peter's had a pretty rough go of it, even before Harry got there. But one has to wonder how Harry's appearance impacted things….or maybe didn't change anything at all. Thanks for the review!**

**Again, all reviews are appreciated!**

Harry had, in the few months since he'd dropped literally out of the sky and into Hogwarts, changed everyone around him. James had become less arrogant and childish, Remus had become less introverted and quiet, Peter had become more angry and weak, and Sirius had become more compassionate towards others, and more perceptive of others feelings.

And as Harry thought about it, he realized that he'd changed his mother a little, too.

Sure, she was still McGonagall's favorite, and Slughorn's, too. She still made the perfect Head Girl, still told James off for chewing with his mouth open, and still demanded attention when she spoke simply because of how she held herself.

Only now, she was laughing when she told James off for chewing with his mouth open. She had learned not only to speak and demand other's attention, but also to listen to the other side of the story. And she smiled a lot more.

The last change was the most prominent. Lily's new, upbeat attitude had made her new friends, caused her to be more open to other's opinions, and had forced her to generally lighten up. It was like Harry had forced James to grow up a little, and made Lily realize that she was still just a teenager, in the years when life couldn't always be serious.

"Oof." And that proved it. Harry tried to brush all of the snow out of the back of his shirt and cloak and turned to glare at the possible culprits. All of the Marauders, and Lily. "All right. Who did it?"

A few months ago, the Marauders would have instantly been handed the blame.

Now, all four of them shrugged at him and then turned to her. Lily, grinning vindictively, carefully packed a snowball and took aim. The snowball hit it's mark and sent Sirius into a string of curses as he tried to thaw his face back out.

_SPLAT!_

"Oh, Evans, you're going down!"

The snowball fight that followed left all five boys flat on their backs in the snow as Lily hurled snowball after snowball at them, only giving them enough time to cover their heads with their arms and occasionally fire something resembling a snowball back at her. When dusk had finally fallen, everyone was cold, tired, and hungry.

"Where'd you learn to throw snow like that, Evans?" Sirius asked later on, breaking the comfortable silence that they had fallen into since arriving at dinner.

Lily smiled slightly. "My dad. We always used to have snowball fights and go sledding after the first snow. It was tradition. Just Petunia, Dad, Mum and me." The soft smile and shining eyes made Harry wonder about the girl who would become his aunt, and what she had been like in this time.

"You miss them?" He asked, truly curious.

"Sometimes. But I still see them every Christmas, and it's only a couple weeks away now." Lily replied, taking another bite of the chicken on her plate. "I have to go this time, too. My older sister's getting married!"

Harry was pretty sure that a piece of the biscuit he accidentally inhaled at that moment would be permanently lodged in his throat. "You all right there, Harry?" Sirius asked, roughly pounding on Harry's back. Brushing off Sirius's concern, Harry tuned back in to the conversation.

"Yeah, only one older sister, Petunia." Lily was replying as she buttered a roll.

"I've never heard you mention her before." James said, truly interested.

Lily looked amused. "Well, we've only been on civil terms for a little while now, and there was never really any reason to bring her up." She replied. "She's a muggle, of course, like the rest of my family."

It seemed quite a bit like she was testing James, despite the fact that she and everybody else knew that he didn't mind muggleborns. At first, Harry couldn't understand this, until he realized that perhaps Lily was a little more under confidant than she let on about her muggle bloodlines.

James nodded, but didn't seem to pay any extra attention to the fact that Lily's family was muggle. "So, she's getting married over Christmas break?" He asked.

Lily nodded, an annoyed look on her face. "Right on Christmas Eve, too." Lily muttered, seeming irritated.

"What? You don't like her?" Harry asked, hopeful. Maybe his aunt had always despised magic, and he really hadn't made it any worse. A small part of him still thought that maybe it wasn't his magic that his aunt hadn't liked; that she didn't dislike magic, she just hated him.

Lily sighed. "There are times she can get pretty annoying." In the moment of silence that followed, she was clearly remembering several of those times, "but she's still my sister, so I guess I have to love her, don't I?"

Harry didn't reply, because he wasn't entirely sure what to say. Even the smallest and most insignificant comment could start something in this time that didn't fit into his own, and he wasn't sure what would happen as a result.

James didn't let the subject go nearly as easily. "How can she dislike magic though? It makes everything so much easier, and so much more beautiful." James, who had been raised in a magical household, was staring incredulously at Lily.

Lily shrugged. Remus, who was buttering a roll and silently listening to the conversation, spoke up. "You know, she's probably jealous of it. I mean, it would be a little upsetting to see your younger sister have a gift that you knew you would never have."

"She sees it as unnatural." Lily said by way of reply. "And I'm really not sure how to change her mind about it."

"Well, maybe you should try doing something nice for her wedding, or Christmas." Sirius suggested. Everyone turned to look at him, some gaping and some, (like Peter) confused. "What?" He asked, irritated.

"Padfoot…that was actually a good idea." James answered for everyone, causing everyone but Sirius to laugh.

That night, as Harry and the Marauders helped Lily create a beautiful magical Christmas ornament for Petunia, Harry had to wonder when his aunt had begun to hate magic…and anyone involved with it. He also began to realize that had he not come back in time and changed the people around him, said Marauders and Lily would not be working together to create the Christmas ornament.

"What are you thinking about?" Remus's quiet voice complete caught Harry off guard.

"Nothing, really." He turned slightly and saw Lily laugh at something James had said, her head thrown back and her expression open and relaxed. "She's really changed since she got to know James."

Remus stared at him thoughtfully. "No. She's really changed since she met you. I think you're the first person who ever successfully got her to laugh at a joke, or actually have a civil conversation with Sirius." They both watched, amused, as Lily swatted at Sirius's head after he suggestively winked at her, wiggling his eyebrows flirtatiously. Remus laughed. "Well, a reasonably civil conversation, anyway."

"They seem to be getting along pretty well." Harry agreed, smiling slightly.

"Who? Lily and Sirius?" Remus asked, surprised.

"No! Lily and James." Harry answered, shivering at the thought of Sirius dating his mother. He wasn't sure what it might change in the future, but for all he knew he might cease to exist.

But his future mother and father did seem to be much closer, and Harry would have to say that out of all of them, it seemed like James was now at least as close to Lily as Harry himself was.

"He's liked her for years." Remus murmured. "Everyone knew it, especially her. He used to ask her out all the time, in the weirdest ways too. At first she might've been a little flattered by the attention, but you know how fifteen year old boys can be, and…"

Harry nodded, understanding. Clearly, Lily had held James's actions prior to the seventh year against him. He could understand that, but he was relieved to see that his parents had at least become friends by Christmas of their seventh year.

When Harry noticed that James had received a small gift from Lily the next day, he wondered if maybe the easy friendship they had developed was becoming something more.

"It's not like it's some expensive heart-felt present." James pointed out when Sirius began to voice Harry's thoughts just moments later. "It's just a picture of all of us in a nice frame."

"You didn't get a book, though." Peter pointed out, holding up his own present from the redhead. Grinning, Harry unwrapped his own present and was surprised to find a beautiful snow globe, with `Merry Christmas' spelled into the middle. Alongside it, of course, was a book on word enchantments.

"I'm not complaining." Remus murmured, his nose already buried in the book Lily had left him, this one titled "The Everyday Cure". Harry guessed that Lily had noticed, like everyone else who knew Remus but not his condition, how often Remus `fell ill', and had decided to make an effort to make him more healthy. He grinned; it was something that would have been typical Hermione. Of course, the massive amounts of candy that he received from both Sirius and James would've been typical Ron.

His spirits dropped a little as he thought of his friends back in his own time. They had to be worried by now, with him having been gone for months on end. Ron and Hermione would be mad as hell if he ever returned…no, _when _he returned. Staying behind wasn't an option.

"You know, Prongsy, for someone who's gotten `just a picture' for Christmas, you don't seem very disappointed about it." Sirius pointed out. Harry noted that even the teasing smile on Sirius's face couldn't rival the ecstatic expression on James's.

For once, James didn't have a comeback.

The rest of Winter Break passed relatively normal, with the exception of the several small pranks that the Marauders played on the staff and students remaining at the school for Christmas.

The suffocating hug that Lily greeted Harry with upon her return reminded Harry of one of Mrs. Weasley's hugs; warm and comforting. He smiled at the knowledge that his mother had been acting like a mother towards him before he'd even existed.

"So how did the wedding go?" Remus asked after dinner as they settled into the common room to relax before bed and the return to classes the following morning.

Lily looked up from the homework that she was trying to help Sirius finish at the last second. "Oh, it was horrible! We were almost lucky we even had it, and it was all my fault!"

Sirius frowned as James asked, "Well, what happened?"

"I gave her that ornament we made when it was just her husband and my family at dinner, because I didn't want anyone to see it and ask how it was made." Lily explained, abandoning the homework that Sirius had apparently forgotten about. "But I didn't take into consideration that there was a chance that she hadn't told him about magic either."

The group listening winced sympathetically. "He threw a fit about it! He went on and on about how freaky magic was and h-how I was a f-freak for having it." As Lily started to tear up, Harry comforted her and felt a small amount of satisfaction; Vernon hadn't just been a jerk to him, then. He'd been a jerk to everybody.

"And he tried to call the wedding off, and it was the night before Christmas Eve, so nobody was really sure what to do about it. Petunia blamed me for everything, and the wedding almost completely fell apart, but it really wasn't my fault!" Lily pointed out, her face flushing as her anger built. "That guy was an ass before he ever knew about magic! He was probably just looking for an excuse to call the whole thing off, and that was the first one he could think up!"

Harry saw where this was going, and grimaced slightly. A moment later, Lily proved his theory right. "And let me guess; you told her so." Harry said, almost groaning when the redhead nodded proudly.

"Yes I told her so! So she blew up at me for ruining everything, and… well, I got really upset about it, I guess, because she was so embarrassed about me, and I kind of sort of…" Here, Lily broke off in her story and blushed.

"Kind of sort of what?" Remus prodded, trying to get the rest of the story.

Lily hesitantly continued. "Well, I kind of sort of did a little accidental magic."

"What kind of accidental magic?" James asked.

Lily's face turned even redder. "Well…the kind of accidental magic that can leave one's sister completely bald on the night before her wedding." Everyone started laughing, and eventually Lily couldn't help but join in. At the time, it had seemed so serious and she'd felt guilty for hours afterwards; meeting the magic reversal squad and seeing his fiancé bald hadn't improve Vernon's opinion of the magical community. Now, laughing with her friends about it in the common room, the event seemed more like a practical joke than a mistake.

Besides, the look on Petunia's face made it all worth it.

But Lily began to frown again as she remembered her sister's cold and unfeeling behavior towards her following the incident. They'd been growing apart ever since Lily had been accepted into Hogwarts; maybe this was the push that her sister needed to actually cut ties completely.

The topic changed, and Lily forgot about her sister's anger towards her in favor of helping Harry tease James. Petunia may be mad about how magic had messed up her wedding, (her hair had grown back, but it had come in too thin and in the wrong color) but she'd get over it eventually.

She couldn't hate magic. And she certainly couldn't hate Lily. After all, they were sisters.


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey guys—I noticed a lot of people have been waiting to hear about Remus, so I thought I'd show that next. Please let me know how you like it—I haven't read very many stories that ever address the issue this way. **

With each month that passed, the Marauders became increasingly hard-pressed to find ways to hide Remus's condition from Harry. All-too-soon, it would be time to leave for another night of frolicking about on the grounds under the full moon, and Remus, Sirius, James and Peter would leave Harry alone in the dorm by himself the whole night.

While Peter really didn't mind that Remus's secret had been kept between just the four of them, the other three members of the Marauders had been feeling increasingly bad about the deception. Harry had become a close friend to the boys in the months he had been there, and every time they came up with a new excuse to leave him behind, they spent the entire night feeling the impressive weight of guilt.

Remus, especially, was suffering under an extreme amount of guilt, not only for lying to Harry, but also for making James and Sirius feel so guilty about keeping his secret. It was true enough that Harry would probably understand, and true enough that he would likely even support his friend, but Remus still couldn't bring himself to risk it by exposing what he was to Harry and chancing that Harry would want to remain his friend. What if he became angry with him, for lying to him for so long? What if he became upset because the Marauders transformed and went together every full moon, and he alone was left out?

Plus, Harry was so often concerned about Remus, and for Remus's well being, that he couldn't help the stabs of anxiety he felt every time he thought of his deceit. Every month as the full moon approached, Harry would ask Remus if he could help him feel better in any way, bringing him specific things to eat or drink from the kitchen and retrieving pain-relieving potions from Madam Pomfrey after the full moon passed.

Then there was Lily, who was much more intelligent and perceptive than even Remus had suspected. The two had grown much closer since Lily had begun hanging out with Harry and accepting the Marauders as friends, and the friendship was a very welcome one. Few of the girls that Lily knew were really comfortable around her, Remus knew, because she was so intelligent and cared so little for physical appearances. It didn't help that many of those girls had a crush on James Potter, who had suddenly stopped dating about and randomly snogging various girls, and everyone knew that James had a huge crush on the adorable redhead.

It was all of this that Remus was contemplating the day before the full moon when both of the people he was thinking about came to sit with him in the library. Without saying a word, the two pulled out their own books to read while Remus blankly stared at his own, trying to nerve himself up enough to talk normally around them.

"How are you feeling today, Remus?" Harry asked, his eyes concerned. Remus swallowed hard, blinking suddenly blurry eyes a couple times to wake up, and tried his hardest to answer positively.

"I think I might be getting a little better," he tried, swallowing afterwards around the lump that was forming in his throat. He hated how emotional his transformation made him. It was part of how the Marauders had figured Remus out before—by watching his emotions and what set him off, and then using that to figure out what he was hiding.

"You don't look it," Lily told him sharply, her keen green eyes evaluating his physical condition. "You look positively green."

Green. Remus noted with some humor and a tinge of hysteria that having two sets of piercing, perceptive green eyes staring at him keenly was more than a little disconcerting—it was downright petrifying.

He also noticed, in the back of his mind, that not only were both Harry and Lily's eyes the same color; they were also the same shape. He couldn't think about that now, not with both sets of those eyes staring at him. He would have to consider it much later on.

"I think I might need the hospital wing," he admitted to his friends, hating to show the weakness that he always felt just before the transformation. It had been becoming darker increasingly early as the months passed, and with the cold, brutal weather outside, Remus was feeling the ill effects of the transformation a little more than he normally would have done. It was a little better though, he admitted, that it was Lily and Harry witnessing his weakness and not the Marauders. For some reason, he didn't feel the need to prove his masculinity around those two.

Lily helped him to stand up while Harry calmly collected Remus's books, and the three slowly set off for the Hospital Wing, walking at a comfortable pace so that Remus wouldn't have to get winded. He became aware that it had grown a lot later in the day than he had previously thought while he had been lost in his own little world in the library, and Remus began to walk just a little bit faster. Harry and Lily both noticed this immediately, and without a word, the two began to speed up to evenly match his pace.

When they reached the Hospital Wing, Remus hesitated, realizing that Pomfrey would probably be waiting for him in there. The Marauders, who knew about what he was, normally were the only ones to accompany him, so this wasn't a problem that he had to explain. It would be if Lily and Harry took him in there.

Sensing his distress, Harry and Lily both stopped, and Harry offered his future professor a small smile. "It'll be okay, Remus. You'll feel better tomorrow, and you'll be back to yourself again in no time." Harry reassured him, seeing Lily nod out of the corner of his eyes.

Remus's amber eyes studied both of their faces and his forehead creased in thought. "You two have been very good friends to me recently. Both of you. You're very important to me."

"We know," Lily told him patiently, her voice kind.

"I want to tell you—" Remus started, his voice shaking.

"No, Remus, I mean, we _know_." Lily said evenly, her own voice completely calm. "We've both known, for a little while." She offered him a timid smile, while Harry tried to calm his own racing heart as he analyzed Remus's face. Harry was a little worried that the Marauder would panic upon this announcement, or become angry that they'd figured it out and defensive of what he was. Instead, all he saw on Remus's face was shock, concern, and a vast amount of relief.

"You've known?" He asked, sounding stunned. "You've known for a while, and you've never said anything about it?"

"Everyone deserves to have their secrets," Harry answered carefully, thinking of his own precious secrets that he'd rather no one know. Remus studied both their faces, lingering on Harry's for a while longer than the Boy-Who-Lived was comfortable with, before asking,

"Is it…are you both alright with it?"

"You're still Remus in the morning." Lily answered compassionately, her own voice a little thick with emotion. "So we're not going to treat you like anyone or anything else."

Harry smiled, still thrilled that his mother shared his opinion regarding Remus's condition. He thought it might have something to do with growing up in the muggle world, that both he and his mother were so open to Remus turning into a werewolf once a month when so many brave wizards that he'd met cowered at the word.

"We realized about the time you get sick, and remembered your Marauder nickname, and put two and two together," he explained, not wanting his future professor and current friend to panic. "I doubt that anyone who didn't know you fairly well could figure it would at all," he assured him, feeling better when he saw Remus visibly sag in relief.

"Thank goodness—I really didn't want to have to say it, and I'd hate to have to share that information with someone else too," Remus said, the guilt that he had been feeling for months evaporating. "You're both very good friends," he added gratefully, his body tensing as the grounds started to be bathed in the setting sun. He could see the fresh, powdery snow outside calling out the window, and knew he'd have to hurry to get to the shack in time.

"So are you," Harry said, smiling and turning to leave. "Have fun. See you in the morning."

It was only as Remus walked down to the shack that he began to puzzle over his friend's words. Harry had said that he had been friends with a werewolf before. Surely he knew that the transformation was overwhelmingly painful, and that there was nothing pleasant about the experience. He couldn't know that the Marauders romped about the grounds, because although he knew about Remus's condition, he didn't know that James, Sirius and Peter were all able to become animals with Remus.

Could he?

As Remus transformed, he put both the mystery of how identical Lily and Harry's eyes were and the puzzle of how Harry had known he would enjoy himself tonight with his friends in the back of his mind. Harry was right Everyone deserves to have their secrets—and Remus couldn't help but think, remembering the sad and lost look that Harry sometimes had on his face, that some secrets might be better left unspoken.


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey guys- sorry this isn't as long as my usual. Consider it more an intermission of sorts, just a little filler. I've just started my job and I'm going to visit a friend for a couple days, so it's going to be a little while before I can update again. It shouldn't set me back too much though- I should post another one before Sunday. Please send me reviews telling me what you think of the story if you add it to your storylist- I really enjoy reading them! **

Harry stared at Dumbledore eagerly, scanning the aging wizard's face for any sign of emotion. The wrinkled, but still twinkling, blue eyes skimmed over the text that Harry had brought him.

"I think I see where you are going with this, my boy," Dumbledore said clearly, analyzing the text. "And I believe you may be correct in thinking that this sort of time magic is responsible for depositing you in this era, in this place."

Harry could sense the "but" coming before it was even said. "But…" He trailed off, wishing that the aging wizard would just get to the point.

"But I don't see how we can use this now to send you back to where you belong." Dumbledore sighed and put the book about time magic down, absently neatening his long white beard with his hands. "This magic is capable of sending someone backwards, as it is used in the form of a time turner. It is not possible to send someone forward with it, because forward is not definite."

Harry slouched in his seat, defeated. He too had come up with a similar conclusion, but he had hoped that the headmaster would have come up with something different. "I see," he said, staring at the numerous objects that littered Dumbledore's desk. Remembering his little fit after Sirius's death, he felt a twinge of guilt for his future actions towards the Headmaster. "Well, keep looking then, please. I'm badly needed at home."

"Are you sure that you're meant to return there?" The Headmaster asked curiously, his eyes studying Harry as though the boy were a puzzle to be solved. "If magic and time placed you directly here during this specific point in time, clearly you were meant to serve a purpose. Perhaps you are meant to live the rest of your life, from this point on, here."

"So… would the future me still be born?" Harry asked, confused.

Dumbledore seemed to be pondering the possibility. "I would imagine so, as long as your parents are still kept together," he answered. "I just think maybe your disappearance from the future was meant to be, and perhaps that all that has come to pass in your future has come to pass because of you."

Harry remembered the prophecy and shook his head. "Trust me, from the little I know about fate and destiny, I'm meant to go back to my time." Dumbledore held his gnarled hand up.

"Tell me no more, please. I do not wish to create a change," he said, his light blue eyes serious and focused on Harry's face. "However, I will continue to search for a way to send you back where you belong."

"Thank you Professor." Harry said, his voice breaking slightly. Thought he was still unsure of how determined he was to get home, he knew that it was long past time that he return. The people of his time were in danger, and without him there to defeat Voldemort eventually, the wizarding world would stand no chance. Additionally, he couldn't defeat the dark wizard now, as that would change the entire timeline of things, and so events that were supposed to come to pass would inevitably be altered.

As Harry approached the door Dumbledore mildly added, "Oh, and Harry? Next time you feel the need to speak with me privately regarding your return to the future, do not feel the need to drop an entire case of dungbombs into a cauldron in potions. Professor Slughorn does not appreciate it all that much, regardless of the good reasons."

Harry smiled, keeping his back turned to the aging professor. "Yes Headmaster!" Harry agreed, descending down the staircase. His father and the Marauders had clearly influenced him a little more than he had previously thought, because his immediate decision following the Headmaster's words was to drop the dungbombs somewhere else instead of potions the next time he and Dumbledore needed to exchange a few words.


	11. Chapter 11

Other than the confession of Remus's condition, time passed with the Marauders and Lily with little incident, other than the occasional prank and some well-earned laughter. NEWT's were approaching with each passing day, and the stress among the seventh-years during their classes left everyone ready for a break by the time the first Hogsmeade weekend since break had rolled around on Valentine's Day.

For James, though, the Hogsmeade trip on Valentine's Day was more of a source of stress than the NEWT's themselves. This was because, for the first time since his tender friendship with Lily Evans had began, James was going to try to ask her out one more time.

Only, he just didn't know quite how yet.

His friends seemed to be sensing his mood as the day drew closer and closer, and drew quiet every time he opened his mouth to say something to Lily. Everyone knew it had been coming for a while—they had seen the looks he had been shooting her, full of nerves and panic and apprehension and a small amount of hope.

Everyone, that is, but Lily, who seemed to be completely unaware that James had never overcome his infatuation with her.

That's why she was so surprised when James did approach her, just a scant few days before the scheduled trip to Hogsmeade, to ask if she would accompany him. She was also surprised to find that she felt a little disappointed that she had to turn him down.

"I really would go with you, if I hadn't already told Darius Matthews that I'd go with him," She tried to assure him, feeling guilty at the absolutely crushed look that James had gotten on his face. As they had grown increasingly friendlier towards one another following their conversation on the staircase, Lily had realized that James really wasn't that horrible of a person. Though he did have some immature qualities that made him a little frustrating, he was also incredibly loyal, fiercely determined, and surprisingly intelligent.

James just forced himself to grit his teeth and smile at her. It did make him feel marginally better to see that she genuinely seemed sorry that she couldn't go with him, and if anything, he was mostly just angry and upset with himself for waiting so long to ask her out—what if things worked out between her that this Matthews guy, and he never stood a chance, even though they were getting to be on such good terms?

"No problem," He told her as nonchalantly as he possibly could. "We'll just go together next time if you can, yeah?"

He felt even better about it when Lily nodded enthusiastically, her red hair swinging around her delicate face and her large green eyes focused solely on him.

That didn't mean he wasn't going to mope the entire trip to Hogsmeade. Because he was, and if the other Marauders and Harry didn't like it, too bad.

"If I had just asked her sooner," He bemoaned once again to his friends, his voice sounding absolutely agonized, "we could have been walking around Hogsmeade together, holding hands and sharing sweets and sipping on butterbeer."

Remus watched James lay his head down on his hands once again, amused at his friend's imagery. "If I didn't know better, James, I'd say that sounded close to something romantic, not a quick trip into an alley for a good snog." Remus said, surprised.

"With Lily, it would never just be about a quicky behind a building somewhere!" James replied vehemently, his hazel eyes coming up from behind his hands in surprise. "I've been waiting years for her! It took me forever just to get her to see me as something other than a pig! There's no way I'd push her to move that fast with me. I'd be the perfect gentleman, and take everything real nice and slow and easy, if it meant I got to spend more time with her."

Everyone blinked at James in shock after his initial little outburst. Even Harry, who had not known his father nearly as long as the other Marauders, had figured out that James was a full-time flirt, always enjoying a good trip to the broom cupboards. It had bothered him a little to watch the boy who was going to become his father walk off with another girl other than his mother to have a good snog, especially since he couldn't really be sure that this meant he had no illegitimate brothers or sisters, but he could hardly argue with it.

For some reason, seeing James with other girls had also made him feel incredibly defensive of his mother around her. For a while, he had actually been considering changing time so that they wouldn't get together, because Lily had become his friend, and Harry didn't want to see any of his friends get treated that way. It was bad enough to see his father break the hearts of half of Hogwarts girls; it would be far worse to see it happen to Lily.

But James didn't seem to have even entertained the thought. In truth, he had never been nervous about asking a girl out before this time with asking Lily, not even when he had asked Lily out numerous times before. Sure, he'd been a little irked each time she had turned him down, but James had never hesitated to offer her another date with him the next time the opportunity came about.

It was one of the main reasons he was still beating himself up for waiting so long to ask her about this weekend. He couldn't believe that after he had already asked her out so many times before he had still been struck with a severe case of nerves upon asking her out again.

He'd dated a lot of other girls before who were just as pretty. He'd dated other girls before who seemed to be almost as smart. He knew he'd dated girls with a better sense of humor, who had laughed until they cried at his jokes and pranks and numerous amusing stories. What made Lily any different?

But then she and the Matthews guy she had mentioned walked into the Three Broomsticks, where James, Sirius, Remus, Harry, and Peter were quietly taking a break from the cold, and James knew.

It was that when he saw her face, he actually forgot to breathe. It was that when she laughed, the whole room seemed to freeze and nothing else seemed to matter. It was that when she walked into the room, even with another man, the whole day suddenly seemed a lot brighter.

There was just something about Lily Evans that James couldn't name, something he could never get over. He realized right then, even before he had kissed her, held her, or even dated her, that he never would get over her. Even if he couldn't have her, James didn't want anyone else.

Afterwards, her when her date with Matthews was already a week passed and the Valentine's Day love had once more left the castle, James asked her, casually as he could, "So how'd that date with Matthews go?"

Lily shrugged, her face still turned down at the floor as they made their rounds through the silent castle's halls late that night. "It went okay, I guess, but I don't think it'll work out between us. He's in Ravenclaw, and he's really smart, but he likes girls to be awed by his brains. I think it bothered him a little too much when I knew exactly what he was talking about and then some." She shook her head, looking a little bemused. "You'd think he'd know I was at least somewhat intelligent, being Head Girl and all," She mused, apparently a little annoyed.

James shrugged, keeping his own head tilted down a little in the hopes that Lily wouldn't study his face too carefully.

"One would think," He agreed, smiling a little too much when Lily smirked at him, her green eyes sparkling with amusement. "What?" He asked, noticing that she almost seemed to be laughing at him.

"Then again, Dumbledore did make you Head Boy, so clearly that doesn't say very much for a Head student's intelligence," she teased, her voice light.

James laughed, heart skipping in triumph. "Yeah, I guess there is something to be said for that," he agreed, elated. Lily was joking with him. She was laughing, even if it was at him instead of with him. It was enough for now.


	12. Chapter 12

**  
It would be mean of me to leave you guys with this. I mean, it's a cliff-hanger, and I'm going on vacation for a week, which means a week of no updates. It would be evil, and cruel, and demented for me to leave such devoted readers with a cliffie for a week, especially one as critical as this. Good thing I'm a mean, evil, cruel person. Otherwise I would feel guilty =)**

**Disclaimer- If Harry were mine, I would live somewhere magical. As it is, I live in the middle of no where. So obviously, it's not mine. **

It was as Harry was studying with Lily for the Charms NEWT that he saw it. It was written in an old Charms book, hidden in the library among other long-lost spells that few students knew. A time-transport spell, similar to the one used on the ministry-issued time turners that he had become so familiar with over his years in the magical world.

Remembering the room in the Department of Mysteries with the numerous time tuners, he began to wonder if that was how the veil had acted, like a large time turner. But if that was the case, how had he been dumped in this specific time, all the way at Hogwarts instead of the Ministry? And where was the Sirius from his time, who had fallen into the veil as well? Was he wandering about in this time, hiding because he knew he couldn't let his past self see his present self? Or had he been catapulted into a different time or place when he'd fallen through the veil?

But Harry knew somehow in his heart of hearts, and had known since he had realized where he was and what time he was in at the beginning of this adventure, that Sirius wouldn't be recovered during the course of this trip. It had been his time to go when he had fallen through the veil, regardless of if Harry thought his time had been too early, and since his talk with the Sirius of this time period, Harry had come to terms with his godfather's death. Sirius, of all people, would know what Sirius would want Harry to do if he were to die. It seemed that his words previously had cleared Harry's conscience.

"What's wrong?" Lily asked him quietly, her eyebrows drawn together in concern.

Harry attempted to smile at her, but she could tell that her friend's heart wasn't really in it. "Nothing," he told her, trying to seem calm. Lily saw him mark the page he had been staring at carefully in the book and resume his flipping through the pages, but she didn't say anything about it. Remus's secret, she had figured out on her own, and she had thought it best to get it out in the open between them that she was his friend and not upset with him about it. Harry's secret she hadn't figured out and wasn't so sure about, so if he didn't want to talk about the oddness he sometimes seemed to exclude, she wasn't about to argue with him.

Besides, she needed Harry to act as a buffer for another type of oddness and awkward conversation she was trying to avoid with a different boy. Ever since James Potter had asked her on that date for Valentines Day a couple weeks before, she had found her eyes drawn to him, her breath a little short when he talked to her. Lily knew that a lot of girls were impacted—or rather, infected—by him this way. He seemed to radiate charm to most girls, and many of those who lived in her dorm room had been under James Potter's spell.

She also knew that she had promised herself, years before, that she would never be one of those girls. She had been so proud of the fact that he hadn't bespelled her with his childish pranks and boy-next-door looks that she hadn't ever considered the possibility that one day she might regret that promise to herself.

Of course, by avoiding the problem at hand by hiding with Harry in the library, the one place James rarely set foot in the castle, she was also subjecting herself to Harry's tender mercies. And for some odd, unknown, unexplainable reason, Harry seemed even more determined than James to see the two of them together.

"So… the next Hogsmeade weekend is coming up soon," Harry said in an attempt at casualness. "Still planning on going with James?" Anyone else would've thought that Harry was asking her out. Lily knew better. Harry was pinning her effectively in a corner so that she wouldn't hurt his other friend.

"I don't know," she answered, honestly as confused as she knew she sounded. "He sort of said something about it before, when I couldn't go with him to the last Hogsmeade weekend, but now he barely talks to me. He hasn't brought it up, and I don't want to be the one to do so, because then he'll re-grow his ego and think that I'm desperate to go on a date with him."

Harry frowned, thinking back on how his future father had been behaving around Lily for the last few days as well. It was true that he had been doing his best to avoid being alone in a room with her, but Harry was pretty sure it was just the nerves of having to ask Lily Evans out once again, only to be rejected.

Never one for talks about feelings, and slightly afraid that James would be angry with him if he found out that Harry had talked to Lily about this, Harry approached the subject delicately. "I think… I think he's just a little shy," he tried, wincing as he saw the look on Lily's face.

Lily scrunched her nose, remembering all the stunts that James Potter had pulled in previous years to ask her out on a date. "Trust me, James Potter is a lot of things, but 'shy' isn't one of them."

Lily saw Harry pause and steady himself, and then listened as he bravely continued. "Well, I mean, maybe he's changed."

"He's not shy around other girls," Lily said archly, remembering stories that her dorm mates had told her of his exploits with the females of Hogwarts.

"Maybe he's just shy around you?" Harry tried, shrugging his shoulders. "I mean, you can be a little intimidating. I know that's how you have to be sometimes, being Head Girl and all, but it probably makes James really nervous. He was beating himself up for days after he hesitated too long to ask you to the last Hogsmeade weekend." Harry told her, while wondering if he shouldn't have said it.

But Lily blushed, and that made Harry think that maybe those were the words she needed to hear. "Well, he better make sure he doesn't wait that long again then," she said, trying to sound confident, but failing even to herself.

James was thinking something along the same lines. He had been trying to gain nerves of steel, as was necessary to approach the girl of his dreams and once more ask her out on a date, but he just couldn't seem to buck up enough to do the job again.

"Pathetic, that's what it is." Sirius told him, eying his best friend's slouched-over form critically. "It's a date. To Hogsmeade. It's not even on Valentines weekend, like the last one was. And she already sort of said she would go, didn't she?"

"Well, kind of," James agreed, looking down at his clasped hands. "I just haven't had the right time to talk to her about it yet, really."

"Well, you'll have plenty of time to talk to her about it tonight, won't you?" Sirius said smugly, a smirk forming on his features. "It's just the two of you on patrol, and a big empty castle. Perfect time."

And this was what James was thinking as he and Lily silently made their rounds, gliding through the quiet castle all alone. About how it was the perfect time to talk to her about maybe becoming more than friends, about how he really just wanted one chance to show her that he had changed for the better, about how he had been able to think of nothing but her since that day he'd asked her out.

But when he finally got her name out and she turned to stop in the corridor, the words were totally lost. "Lily…" He finally said again, turning to stare at her as she bit her lip.

"Yes?" He couldn't think of what he'd been about to say. All he could see was that lower lip that she kept taking in-between her teeth, wishing she weren't so mean to her lip.

Wishing he could kiss the poor, chewed-on, poofy red lip better.

And then, James did what he was so good at doing when he was around Lily Evans, and acted without thinking first, and leaned over and did just that.

It was heaven. It was nirvana. It lasted all of three seconds, and then his cheek was stinging where Lily had smacked him and the love of his life was gone.


	13. Chapter 13

**You guys have been both patient and kind, so I suppose I owe you an explanation for the break. I was on vacation for a week, and then spent the last week working my butt off for my dad, who has just opened his own photography business on top of his full-time job. I have been editing senior pics out of the wazoo, so I apologize. I didn't plan on making you wait this long, and I'll try to keep it from happening again. **

**Disclaimer- ****sigh…. I wish I owned Sirius. But I don't. Nor do I own Harry. But, oh, if I did…. (acquires distant look of wistfulness and slowly morphs into an evil cackle) mwhahahahaha!**

"You did WHAT?" Sirius asked, eyes nearly falling out of his head in shock.

"I know," James said miserably, sinking onto his bed in the dorm room with remorse. "It was stupid. I'm pathetic. I should've known better. Tell me something I haven't already thought of."

Harry leaned forward, looking more amused with the situation than James thought he had any right to be. "So you just leaned in and kissed her? No warning, nothing?" He asked. The corners of his mouth were pulled down but his eyes turned up in a smile.

Eyes just like Lily's, James noted. They weren't just the same color—they were shaped the same way, so that when Harry smiled the corners of his eyes crinkled slightly.

Maybe he was just seeing Lily in everything he looked at, though. She drove him crazy enough to make it possible.

"Yeah, I wasn't thinking. Stupid mistake on my part," James said, putting his head back in his hands. Though he knew that what he'd done was stupid, he couldn't bring himself to regret that three-second kiss. He'd kissed a lot of girls, and many of them very experienced, good kissers.

That was the best kiss he'd ever had in his life, and thus, the best mistake he'd ever made.

Lily, meanwhile, was having similar thoughts of the kiss. While James hadn't given her a whole lot of warning with what his intentions were, she knew he had given her more than enough time to pull back. She hadn't. She had leaned forward, thrown herself into the kiss, far more than she had with any other guy before. Was this what the other girls had felt, when they had been kissing him too? The tingling of the lips and cheeks, the jelly-legs effect he seemed to have on her every time he was close, intensified by a million?

It had to be some type of magic, Lily thought, that made James Potter so attractive to the entire female race. And she was more furious with herself than she could even be with him because she was letting that magic work on her.

"I heard he kissed you." Lily jumped about a foot in the air when Harry's voice broke her train of thought through the clamor of people starting to enter the Great Hall for lunch.

"Without even so much as a 'how about a date'!" Lily agreed, her face heating up in humiliation. "Well, if he thinks he can do to me what he does with all those other girls, he's got another thing coming!" She huffed indignantly.

Harry smirked. "You didn't hex him." Lily stiffened, knowing that she had been found out.

"So?"

"So if you were really that furious with him over kissing you, you wouldn't have hesitated to do your worst. So it must not have been that terrible."

She hated that Harry sounded so smug. She hated that her face heated up even more, and that her fair skin would show the blush that lit her cheeks easily. She hated that when she remembered that kiss, her stomach became tied up in knots.

Mostly, she hated that Harry was right. He was more right than he knew.

What she wouldn't give for a sympathetic girlfriend's ear right now, someone who could listen to her without being jealous of her kissing James Potter. Sighing, Lily decided that Harry would just have to do.

"He makes my palms sweat and my head spin and my stomach turn and fingers tingle, but he knows it, and that's a huge problem," she revealed, embarrassed.

"No he doesn't."

"Don't be ridiculous, Harry, of course he does!" She argued, furious. "He knows he does it to every girl he comes across—that's why he does it! He thinks he can just waltz up to any girl he pleases and kiss her and get away with it!"

"Yeah, to any other girl. But right now he's up there in the dorm moping and even Sirius can't seem to cheer him up," Harry said gently, staring at her. She suddenly realized why some people became so incredibly uncomfortable when she stared at them for a long period of time. Intense green eyes probing you like that did tend to make anyone feel uncomfortable.

"I hate that he makes me feel like this. He does it to every girl out there." She said, aware that she sounded a bit like a sulky little kid and unable to do anything about it. Harry studied her face calmly, clearly trying to carefully construct what he was about to say next. That was the way in which Lily was reminded of how different Harry and James really were every time she was with the two of them. Harry thought everything over very carefully, his words well-selected to say exactly what he meant. It as much more like her. James acted without thinking at all, and tended to just blurt out whatever was on his mind at the time.

"Well, he might have that effect on a lot of girls, Lily, but I know for a fact that you're the only girl who has that effect on him. And for what it's worth, I really think that's saying something."

Lily stared at Harry, trying to sense any sort of lie or dishonesty about him. He seemed entirely sure of what he was saying, so positive that he was right that it should have irked her. Instead, it just served as a source of comfort.

"Really?" She asked him, her voice smaller than she'd meant it to be.

"Really." Harry reassured her, his manner positive.

That night, when James and she silently walked the halls once more on duty, she asked him, nonchalantly as possible, "So are you going to ask me out or not?"

James had been asking himself the same question all day, as well as the majority of the night. Blinking, opened his mouth to try and ask about how she had glared at him earlier from across the Great Hall, how she had obviously gone out of her way to avoid him previously in the one class they shared that day, how her face had turned bright red in anger when she had caught his eye earlier.

Then he realized she didn't sound all that irritated with him. In fact, though he thought it could have just been his imagination, he almost thought Lily sounded hopeful.

James decided he'd never understand girls. But even to James, a hint like that was hard to miss. "Lily Evans, would you please accompany me to Hogsmeade this upcoming weekend?"

And for the first time, Lily said yes.


	14. Chapter 14

**To teamfred, for cheering me up when I very badly needed it. You're right- if JK had given up after the idea for Harry Potter was rejected the first 20 times (it was rejected, I think I read, 23 times total from different editors,) then we wouldn't have the wonderful world of Hogwarts that she created. Anyways, thanks for the pick-me-up. You're right, it's not for the reviews, it's because I like writing. And it helped. Also, to anyone who actually bothered to come back and continue reading this after such a long pause between updates. Please bare with me, as I am going to be on a separate continent in 2 weeks, doing study abroad in Europe, when I am, in fact, American. It's a rather interesting prospect, one that may make updating difficult. I hope this satisfies any need for the moment. Merry almost-Christmas. **

By now, Sirius knew there was something more than a little different about Harry. It wasn't that he looked all that different—he and James looked so similar that it was eerie. He didn't really talk all that different, although sometimes he let a few words slip that Sirius had never heard before. He didn't dress different, or eat different. And most of the time, he didn't act different.

But when he did, Harry didn't just act a little different. He acted like a completely different person.

Like he was just then. His eyes had changed from their usual bright, shining green to a dull, dark, brooding color. He looked older, more weary somehow—like he'd had a few too many bad things happen recently.

It was times like this that Sirius hated to approach him. He knew how much Harry valued his privacy and his quiet time, how little he liked to be disturbed when he was busy thinking. It hadn't taken the Marauders long to figure out when to leave their new roommate and friend alone, and most of the time, they stuck to that.

But that protective feeling Sirius had towards Harry was too strong to allow Sirius to walk away. Harry looked like he was too upset to be left alone.

"Hey mate." Sirius noted with interest how Harry jumped about a foot in the air at his voice. Sirius noted with even greater interest how Harry's hand jumped straight to his wand, immediately ready to fire.

"Galleon for your thoughts?" He offered hesitantly, trying to dim his curiosity.

Harry scowled, a dark look that Sirius wasn't used to seeing on either Harry's or James' face. "I'm not sure they're even worth a sickle," Harry answered, his eyes turning from Sirius's face to scan the grounds below. Sirius curled up gracefully next to Harry on the window ledge, shifting a little to get comfortable, and said,

"Try me."

At first, Sirius was worried that Harry wasn't going to take him up on that offer. It was rare that Harry spoke about himself or his past at all, and for the most part, the Marauders had given up asking him about it.

This time, though, Harry only paused for a few moments before surprisingly saying, "okay."

"I made a mistake," Harry started, aware that his voice was catching, aware of the irony that he was confessing this to the very man his mistake had killed. "You know that friend I said that just died? I made a mistake, a very big one, and found out more than I really wanted to know."

"I've made some pretty big mistakes too, you know," Sirius offered, making Harry smile. Harry turned to see an unusually sad expression on Sirius' face.

"I'm sure you have, but this one—"

"No, I mean, some _really_ big mistakes," Sirius choked out, remembering the look of horror and disgust on James's face when he had realized where Sirius had sent Snape.

Harry looked curious, and immediately Sirius wished he hadn't brought it up. He hadn't discussed his betrayal of Remus with anyone after the Marauders had forgiven him, including the Marauders. It wasn't one of the proudest moments of his life, and he never really thought he'd want to relive it.

Surprisingly, though, Harry didn't ask him to relive it. As curious as he seemed, Harry also seemed to understand that Sirius had secrets to keep as well. Instead, Harry asked him, "Would you undo it, if you could?"

Sirius started, blinking at the unusual turn the conversation had taken. "Well, I mean, you can't."

Harry stared at Sirius as though he were stupid. "Sure you can. We're wizards! We can solve just about any problem with magic." Harry was aware, violently aware, of just how not-true that was, but Sirius didn't need to know that.

"Nope, I refuse to believe you can go back and change things," Sirius answered resolutely, his eyes still focused out on the grounds. "Not even little things, not even with magic. Think about it; if we hadn't happened to have decided to go outside that night, or hadn't decided to stay out past curfew, we may have never met you. If you hadn't decided to become close to us, you never would've found out about Remus. If Lily hadn't decided to become your friend, she and James may have never gotten along."

"So, what if you could go back and do things differently?" Harry asked him, turning from the gloomy image outside to see the two students who would eventually become his parents sharing a study table. James and Lily had been spending an increasing amount of time together since the first successful date to Hogsmeade, something that all of the Marauders seemed to be happy about.

If he could just warn them, or tell Dumbledore. He could teach them better spells to defend themselves, or tell Sirius alone what he had been through. He could warn Remus, even, and then let fate decide what to do.

Sirius's voice dragged him back into the conversation. "Nope, even if you did things different, they'd still end up the same way," He said resolutely, following Harry's line of sight to the new almost-couple seated at the table. Confused, he asked, "Why? You mad that you set James up with Lily, instead of asking her out yourself?"

He was relieved when Harry laughed, clearly humored by the question. "Absolutely not," he said, watching the couple trade glances at each other in between turning the pages of books. "In fact, I think getting them together has probably been one of the best accomplishments I've ever made in my life."

Sirius snorted, his bark-like laugh causing several people in the common room to glance to where they were seated in the window. "Yeah, it sure lightened my headache. James doesn't moan and groan about how he can't have her anymore—instead he continuously talks about how perfect she is."

Harry laughed, but didn't argue. Every once in a while his father managed to gross even him out.

The conversation ended there, but Harry was left thinking about what Sirius said for the rest of the night. What if Sirius was right?

There were too many variables, too many maybes. He needed Hermione or Ginny here to sit with him, work through the problem, and set it straight. He needed Ron to laugh with him and take his mind off it, needed to know that somebody else, if only just one other person, was aware of everything that he was.

Worse, he needed to go home. He just had no idea how.

**AN: I really will try to post more reasonably, guys. I'm just going through a lot right now, as pathetic as it sounds, and don't have a large amount of time to devote to fanfiction writing. I'm too busy with work, college, and papers to go study abroad… But there's a few weeks left of my winter break, so I'll try. I'm sorry it took so long. **


	15. Chapter 15

**This and the next chapter will likely be the most war-action, and the most explanation, you will get out of this fic. Except, perhaps, for the events of the last chapter, which I have planned but have yet to actually sit down and write. Regardless, I'm not as good at violence as I am at writing about people (I understand people, being a psychology major. Violence? Nope, understanding violence still eludes me completely.) As such, this might not be my best chapter, but I think it's necessary to kind of explain some of my own views on fate in this particular fic, and where I'd like the fic to go in the future. I'm glad to see that so many are enjoying, and I hope you continue to enjoy. Probably not all that many chapters left at this point. **

**Disclaimer- It's not mine. But I'm going to London soon, on my foreign exchange project, and I plan to take a picture in all the Harry Potter-related places I can, so I can pretend to be JK and imagine that it's mine for a little while :)**

Harry knew he should be struggling to return to his own time, but the prospect of hurrying back to a war that he would soon be thrown in the middle of held very little appeal when Sirius, Remus and James were around, and his mother was never more than a room or two away.

But spending so long away from the terror of the wizarding world's war and the suspicion that followed Voldemort's reign of terror quickly eased back Harry's caution, and eventually, that was his downfall.

It started out simply enough—at least, in Sirius's mind, it was all very simple. The plan: go to Hogsmeade; find the butterbeer; bring it back. Though Harry insisted on leaving money for the drink behind so that the bottles of liquid happiness weren't quite stolen, Sirius still didn't see how Harry could be so nervous about it.

After all, it wasn't as though they hadn't broken the rules multiple times already within the day. Earlier, between the Gryffindor Lion's Quidditch victory over Hufflepuff and their night excursion to the village for butterbeer, the Marauders had already set off fireworks in the halls to celebrate. They had broken into the kitchens numerous times for food, as Remus and Peter were doing at the moment, and had often snuck around the castle late at night with Harry at their side.

"This is different," Harry insisted when Sirius pointed all of this out to him. "This isn't in Hogwarts, there's way more that can go wrong."

Sirius scowled, annoyed. "No, there really isn't. Either we get caught there or we get caught doing something wrong in school—either way just amounts to more detention." He softened slightly when he saw Harry's face. "Really, mate, it'll be fine. James and I have done it loads of times."

"Then why can't you take him?" Harry whined, knowing already exactly why.

Obliging him, Sirius answered. "Because he's with Lily making early rounds so they can both enjoy the after party, and you know she's okay with us breaking the rules as long as she doesn't know about it in time to stop it."

Harry rolled his eyes, exasperated both with Sirius for being so insistent and his gut for nagging at him in such a way.

They set out through the crone's hump passageway, careful to keep quiet while traveling. In spite of the fact that all seemed to be going according to plan, the nagging suspicion that something was wrong became increasingly worse as Harry neared the end of the passageway with Sirius right in front of him.

Irritated with himself for being paranoid when the attacks in this time weren't nearly as bad or as often as the ones in his own, Harry pushed forward in front of Sirius. "Let me go first, okay?" He asked carefully, his wand already in his hand and steady, his stance defensive.

Sirius shrugged, used to Harry's odd moods. "Okay, just open it slowly in case there's someone there."

There was indeed someone there, but it wasn't someone who should have been there. A little bit of lifting revealed the dusty floor of the Honeydukes shop, with a dark clad figure moving about in the basement.

"You're quite sure he said down here?" A voice hissed, clearly angry. Harry jumped when another voice quietly replied, sweeping across the floor and into his limited field of view.

"Positive. He seemed sure that the entrance was over here." Harry's blood froze as he identified the second voice- McNair.

As quietly as he could, Harry carefully lowered the trapdoor so that it once again disappeared into the floor. "Sirius, there are Death Eaters up there. I need you to run back and get help."

Sirius visibly paled, in spite of the only light source being a very dim amount of light from Harry's wand. "Don't be ridiculous. Dumbledore's right up at the castle; there's no way any of them would risk anything with him up there." Still, he too seemed uncertain with the words, saying them more to reassure himself than because he actually believed it.

Harry nodded, aware that Sirius had a point. "I know, hopefully not. But I also don't think they're looking for candy," He stated sardonically, annoyed.

Sirius scowled, clearly a little annoyed at him for joking at a time like this.

"So what do you think they are looking for?" He asked, curious, and watched with awe as Harry's eyes began darkening in anger.

Harry himself was thinking of Wormtail, and how the Marauder had probably run to Voldemort as soon as he could to tell him all about the secret passageways and entrances to the castle. "I don't know," He said, instead of telling Sirius his suspicions. "But I bet it'd be useful to find out, so I'm going to wait it out here, just in case."

Sirius shook his head, firmly against this idea. "That's stupid—they could find this door, and it'd be like a death-trap. You wouldn't really have anywhere to go but back down the passage."

"I'll lock the door and just see if I can hear anything through it," Harry argued. "Besides, I beat you in defense, so I'm better to leave behind, and you know it."

Sirius hesitated, and Harry took advantage. "If you don't move, they'll get out of here too quickly to do anything, and then I might be in more trouble. Get back and get someone down here."

He hesitated only a moment before nodding and running quickly in the opposite direction. Sparing him only a glance, Harry turned and pressed his ear quickly to the trap door, discouraged when he didn't manage to hear anything. Quite suddenly, he got an idea.

It was stupid. It was dangerous. But it seemed important- after all, was this not a sign that history had changed? If Dumbledore had been aware of the passage, would he not have had it guarded to prevent anyone from using it to get in?

Carefully Harry once more eased open the door, pleased to see that both Death Eaters were across the room behind some boxes, knelt on the floor. Casting a quick disillusion charm on his body, Harry slipped out of the small crack in the floor and crept to some other storage boxes on the opposite side of the room.

"This is stupid for a first mission," the Death Eater Harry couldn't identify complained, his hands still sweeping over the dirty floor for any trace of a crack or crevice. Waiting for the moment that the other Death Eater answered, Harry carefully sealed and concealed the trapdoor once again so that it stood better chances of remaining hidden until help arrived.

"Those who are loyal to the dark lord are merely happy to serve him, regardless of the job," McNair replied, his voice clearly displaying evidence that contradicted his previous statement.

"Oh, of course! Is that why you're here, when you've been with him for a long time?" The other Death Eater snarled, clearly hitting a nerve. Uncomfortable, Harry shifted his weight under him, holding his breath when one foot made a noise against the dirt on the floor.

"Shut up!" McNair ordered, his head raised underneath his cloak. "You hear that?"

"Hear what?" The other Death Eater replied, clearly nervous. Harry fought the urge to chuckle in spite of himself, slightly amused. It was apparent that even the more seasoned Death Eaters like McNair had been slightly less daring back when his parents had been in school, which likely explained the lower number of attacks and the less frightened students.

"I'm not sure," McNair replied. Harry released the breath he'd been holding when McNair turned back to the floor.

A few more moments, which to Harry felt like hours, passed, as Harry sat in the cramped secret entrance to Honeydukes, his palms sweating and his pulse racing, before the other Death Eater sighed "I really don't think there's anything in here, especially not any entrance to Hogwarts."

And right at that moment, McNair pulled the trapdoor up.

**Cliffhanger much? I already have the next half of this chapter, as it were, written, I just don't want to post it tonight. It's too late, I'm too tired, and it takes too long to do right now. Maybe perhaps tomorrow. If not then, at least probably before New Years. Best New Years wishes all, and happy holidays. **


	16. Chapter 16

Meanwhile, back at the school, Sirius was rushing as quickly as possible to make his way to the headmaster's office, searching for any signs of life along the way that may be able to help. He skidded around a corner, nearly to said office, when he ran into one of the few people who were more likely to side with the Death Eaters in a battle.

"Out a little late, aren't you, Black? And where might your other friends be, out in the dark? It wouldn't be a good night to wander far." It was the sneer stretched across Snape's face, even more so than his words, that tipped Sirius off. Snape had known.

While Sirius was aware that time was of the essence, he felt a sudden fury overtake him at the idea that somehow, (though he admittedly wasn't sure quite how) Snape had discovered the secret entrance and revealed it to the Death Eaters. That now they had lost their favorite passage into Hogsmeade, and that somehow, Marauder secrets had been spilled.

It didn't help that Snape happened to be standing in the way of his continued path towards the Headmaster's office, and that experience with his own family had told Sirius quite clearly how unwise it was to turn one's back on an angry Slytherin.

He didn't consider the Gryffindor at his back until he was unconscious, with Peter, shaking and pale, staring morosely at his once-friend.

"Well, thank you, Pettigrew," Severus snarled, annoyed at the boy who had ended a perfectly good fight early and interrupted his own rising place in the ranks of Death Eaters.

He never noticed Pettigrew's wand raising, curse on his lips, until it was too late for him as well.

Peter Pettigrew and Gilderoy Lockhart had very little in common, in the grand scheme of things. Lockhart was influential in life, whereas Pettigrew was only known after death. Lockhart was good-looking, whereas Pettigrew was a short, fat child who grew only to become a short, fat adult. But both were abnormally atrocious at defensive spells, ridiculously cowardly, and knew, better than almost any other spell, how to Obliviate someone.

Snape never knew what hit him.

Harry, meanwhile, had much less time than Pettigrew to make a choice of what to do in his current situation. The options, to him at least, were clear, and followed basic instincts to their fullest: flight, or fight.

And as Sirius had previously pointed out, Harry's chances of avoid curses shot at his back while running down the narrow passageway back to Hogwarts were quite slim.

Intellect, or what remained of it in spite of the panic that threatened to take over Harry's mind, told him to fight. And instinct told him how, using the same curse that had never, in all his time learning, using, and even (to the extent that he had in the DA) teaching it, had never let him down.

"Expelliarmus!" He hissed, adrenaline running through his veins as he saw the two men fly through the air in front of him to land firm against the wall.

Coincidentally, hitting one's head against a large, thick brick wall after flying towards it from across the room at a decent speed has much the same effect as the Obliviate charm preformed miles away up at the castle by Peter at that moment.

Harry watched them attempt to feebly stir, the Death Eater whose name he did not know moaning in pain. Quickly but quietly, Harry sunk back into the trapdoor beneath him, shocked that it had actually worked out so well that the Death Eaters hadn't remembered seeing him, and were unaware now of the trapdoors existence at all.

It was then that it occurred to him that maybe Dumbledore really was correct in believing that no matter what he tried to do, fate would end up doing what was necessary to continue time on it's natural path.

Harry knew then what he had to do. He didn't like it, but he would do it, and then fight even harder to find a way to get back home.

Harry strode confidently down the halls, somehow aware that this was what needed to happen for things to return to their proper place. He was afraid, more than anything else, of what methods fate would use to make sure that things happened correctly if he didn't set about fixing things himself.

That didn't mean he wasn't going to enjoy it a little first though. After all, if he was going to have to erase Sirius's memory, the least he could do was tell Sirius everything first, explain everything that had happened.

Unfortunately, both for Peter and for Harry, fate was not willing to leave it's outcome in one single young wizard's hands. As such, it was Peter that Harry found in the halls, squatted down nervously over Sirius's slack face.

It didn't matter that Peter appeared to be checking on Sirius, or that perhaps at that moment Peter was regretting his decision to join the Dark Lord more than ever before. Harry saw red.

"You just can't leave well enough alone, can you, Peter? How'd you get both him and Snape? From behind?" He hissed, furious to find the round, sweating boy attempting to raise his wand. Before he could even wrap his slippery fingers around his wand fully in the proper position to cast the Obliviate charm, Harry already had his own wand to Peter's nose.

"I know all about you, Peter. I know all about what you're willing to do, and it makes me absolutely sick that I have to let you do it." Peter blinked, confused, and then tensed, petrified with a basic first year charm that he should have been able to block, but couldn't.

And as Peter listened to Harry moan and rage about how unfair his life was, not making any sense in the slightest and babbling nonsense about fate and destiny and such rot, Peter felt his own hatred for the boy before him spread further than ever before, further than it would likely ever progress for any other human being. He'd been wondering, just moments before when he'd seen Sirius's unconscious, familiar face, if he'd done the right thing, becoming a Death Eater. He'd considered outing himself to his friends, even, just to try to keep them safe.

But outing himself to his friends would mean outing more of himself to Harry. Would give Harry just a little bit more of a foothold into their group, just a little bit more leverage with the others that Peter frankly didn't feel Harry deserved.

In later years, when Lily gave birth and James announced that his child was named "Harry," Peter felt a disgust he couldn't explain. While the memories of Harry shouting at him, cursing at him, and paralyzing him were gone, the hate inside Peter remained, festering and rotting inside of him.

And there was little Harry could have done to prevent that hate from boiling over into Peter betraying the Potters anyway, because when it came down to it, fate had plans for Harry Potter, and those plans were too intense, too important, for one mere trip through time to disrupt them.


	17. Chapter 17

**I owe everyone who was actually following and enjoying this story an enormous apology. I hate when authors leave a perfectly good story alone for a long-ass time with no explanation, and now I've gone and done just that. I could give you that explanation now, if you'd like, along with a story about how that time I spent abroad changed my priorities, my way of thinking, and my life in general. But it'd end up being just a bunch of excuses. It's been a rough two years, but I miss writing, and we were in the homestretch of this story. I can't promise the updates will be regular, or up to the quality of my old writing, or even really the same style as my old writing, but at least they'll be coming. **

**And to everyone who bothered to keep checking if this story was updated, and got a smile on their face when it was… thanks =) **

**Disclaimer- Were it mine, I'd be rich. But I'm poor, so clearly it's not. **

The scare in basement of Honeydukes had no effect that Harry could see on Sirius, which made sense because he couldn't remember it. It also had no apparent impact on Peter, who had also lost his ability to recollect that particular chain of events. Between the obliviating and storytelling, in fact, he and Professor Dumbledore had done an excellent job of ensuring that there was no apparent reaction at all, and thus that time would continue in the way that it was meant to.

There was one thing that they couldn't cover up or erase though, because both Harry and Dumbledore agreed it was entirely too dangerous to meddle with: Harry's own memory. According to Dumbledore, it was even possible that this was utterly essential to keeping the future he was familiar with the way that he remembered, especially if it motivated him to do something.

And Harry, unlike Sirius and Peter, couldn't help reacting.

He'd been vacillating, for quite a while, on how to go back and how soon he needed to go back. Although he had recently become quite determined to research all of his possible options for how to return, the attack lit a fire under Harry that hadn't been there previously as he was reminded of all of the attacks taking place back in his own time.

It had only barely occurred to him, in the back of his mind, that spending time with people that were truthfully already dead (even if they didn't know it yet) instead of spending time with people that were still living was unhealthy, but he now began to ask questions of himself that he'd previously been too afraid to consider. What if he finally made it back to his own time to discover that those he thought were living had died in the meantime? What if, by spending all the time he had with his parent's friends, he'd sentenced his own friends to their deaths?

Unfortunately, being so lost in his own thoughts made Harry a little less aware than he usually was, and the Marauders were beginning to really notice it, and worry.

"I don't think he's turned the page in the book at all in the last hour," Remus said quietly, glancing across the room from where he and James were playing a loud game of exploding snap to look at Harry. James turned and frowned at his green-eyed doppelganger briefly, catching the overwhelmed look on the boy's face, before he turned back to his cards.

"Do you want to go ask him about it then?" James muttered low enough that Harry wouldn't overhear. He looked pretty preoccupied with whatever was mulling over, but Harry had proven before that he had an incredibly sharp set of ears.

"I've already tried, he just brushed me off and said he was tired. And Sirius doesn't think it's anything to worry over—he's stressed out with NEWTs too, so he thinks it makes sense."

"It could be the NEWTs," James agreed, privately hoping Remus would let the topic go and get back to the game. Conversations about emotions just weren't really within his comfort zone.

"Well, I don't know what he'd be reading about time transit for if he's worried about his exam scores," Lily said from behind them, making both boys jump a little. Tossing her bag down beside the table, she leaned forward to give James a brief kiss and then settled down next to him. "And whatever it is he's working on, he's not going to talk about it. I've already tried."

"When did you decide there was something wrong going on with him?" James asked, awed as always at how Lily always caught onto everything so quickly.

"About a week ago," Lily replied, digging through her bag to pull out a long and well-used piece of parchment. "But I've been working on the list of things unusual for a little while now."

Remus stretched his hand out to take the parchment and examine Lily's findings, and James used the opportunity to trace patterns on Lily's knee under the table, still delighted that he was able to do so. Lily eyed him with amusement but didn't say anything to argue with it as Remus mouthed what he was reading to himself and then looked back up at Lily with admiration. "Is this how you figured my secret out?"

"Sort of," Lily admitted, shrugging. "When I'm trying to solve a puzzle, I get all the pieces together first. I was going to just leave Harry's secret alone, but if it's going to make him so upset and overwhelmed then I'm not sure it's such a good idea."

James reached out his hand for the parchment to pursue Lily's list himself, and found he was even more impressed by all of the little bits and pieces that his girlfriend had collected. Titles of books, behaviors and quirks Harry occasionally exhibited, and phrases or words he had said that were unusual or flat-out bizarre had been carefully and neatly written together for her to pursue.

"He'd probably be pretty upset if he found this though," James told her, hoping that the impressed whistle he'd let out a moment before had said enough of a 'good job' message that she wouldn't get snippy at his advice. She nodded, already obviously aware of this, and carefully wiped the parchment clean in a way that made James raise his eyebrows. Letters and words began to disappear, and within moments the entire thing was blank.

"Do you think you could teach me to do that?" James asked somewhat wistfully, imagining how much better the Maurader's Map would be if it could be disguised as a piece of parchment afterwards.

Lily hesitated, then shrugged to herself and continued onward. If James chose to use the charm for pranks instead of fulfilling his duties as Head Boy, then that was on his hands as far as she was concerned. She could teach the charm at least and not be responsible for what he did with it. "I could probably show it to Remus, but honestly James, I'm not sure you're advanced enough with Charms for it yet."

"All the better," James replied, raising both eyebrows at Remus significantly to indicate that his friend should do so. In all of his interest in the charm he'd failed to pay attention to his cards, and his next turn was careless enough to trigger the explosion that made most of the people around the small study table jump in surprise.

As he stood up and stretched, James noticed that his girlfriend was already pulling out the notes she had on the charm to show to Remus, and he decided to stretch and distract Harry from whatever he was thinking so hard on so that Lily and Remus could focus. Kissing Lily on the crown of her head as he passed, he meandered through the common room towards Harry.

He expected Harry to at least be somewhat aware that he was behind the chair, but the other boy seemed completely clueless, his eyes on the book situated in his lap. Curious, especially after seeing Lily's list, James glanced over at the words and found himself completely lost.

"Do you even know what any of this means?" He asked, unintentionally startling Harry into slamming the book shut. James smirked a little bit as Harry sighed, eyed the closed text hopelessly, and shook his head.

"Not even in the slightest," Harry admitted, turning to look at James while attempting to put on a happy expression. "What're Remus and Lily working on over there?" He asked, hoping to divert the subject of the conversation to one that James would be okay knowing.

James frowned a little bit, clearly seeing through his distraction, but played along willingly enough. "Lily found a charm that makes text disappear at a certain wand movement, and then reappear. It's like invisible ink, but you can use any sort of writing utensil with it, I think, because the charm's on the spell instead. I'm hoping she can teach it to Remus so he can do it on the Map."

"But we really only have about a month left when we'd use the Map, right?" Harry asked, with a slight feeling of unease that he didn't fully understand. "I mean, what's the point when we're just about to graduate?"

"You never know—one of us could be back here someday teaching, using it to catch troublemakers after curfew," James replied in a joking tone, laughing to indicate just how likely he found this possibility. Harry forced himself to laugh along, the unease slowly sliding from a small to a rather larger place inside his stomach.

"That seems like an awful waste of all that hard work," Harry murmured speculatively, following the bad feeling to figure out where it was going and how he could fix it. "I mean, to keep it in a trunk just in case someday you feel like using it."

James shrugged. "Well, it's not like it'll be much use to us when we're out of school anyways. And besides, what else would we do with it?"

"I don't know, I just feel like taking it away from Hogwarts is depriving future rule breakers of their ability to wreak havoc like you guys have," Harry answered thoughtfully, trying not to tip his hand too much.

Sirius saw the two of them thinking as he came through the portrait hole a moment later and headed over to them, flopping into a squishy armchair near Harry's and stretching out his legs to rest his feet on the low-set table in front of the fire. "What're we thinking about?"

"Our ability to inspire trouble makers of the future," James answered seriously, causing both of his friends to look up at him with a little surprise. "What?" He asked defensively when he noticed their expressions. "It's an important topic. I never thought about it before, but Hogwarts is going to be completely boring for the first years after us if there's no one here to take up the torch."

"Huh?" Sirius inquired, as eloquently as possible.

"I was just saying that you guys pulled off some amazing pranks while you were here, from all the stories I've heard," Harry explained, gesturing to Remus and Lily over in the corner, who appeared to still be discussing the charm that had sparked the discussion. "And Lily's showing Remus a charm now, and it's going to make the Map even more useful than before."

"Which charm?" Sirius asked, always excited about the idea of improving their pranks.

As James explained the charm, Harry did some fast thinking. He remembered Fred and George saying they'd nicked the Map from Filch's office, but until then had not considered how the map had ended up there in the first place, and of all the stories that the Marauders he'd known in his own time had told him, the fate of the Map was not one of them.

How much might it alter things, Harry wondered, if one of the Marauders kept the Map instead of losing it? It seemed like a rather small thing at first, but in the scheme of things, Harry thought back on his third year and the specific events that had led him to the Shrieking Shack at the end of it and realized that had the map not followed it's own path, there was a very good chance that he would not have had the opportunity to get to know his godfather at all. Considering he had gone back in time (though when he'd stepped through the veil, that truly wasn't his intention) to rescue his godfather, ensuring that the Map followed the proper path seemed pretty important.

He couldn't see James, however, or even Sirius now that he knew him so well, being careless enough to lose the Map to the old caretaker. That sinking feeling that Harry had been experiencing in the pit of his stomach sunk as he realized the Marauders might not have been the ones to lose the Map to the caretaker, because he might have to do it himself.


End file.
